The Verge

Microsoft is bringing back Twitch streaming integration directly into the Xbox dashboard. Twitch first appeared directly integrated into the Xbox One dashboard in 2014, using the original Snap interface to allow players to stream directly to the service. Now it’s coming back into the Xbox Guide interface, with similar integration and webcam support.Alpha and Skip-Ahead alpha Xbox testers can access the new integration right now, and it’s simple to use. You can adjust game volume or microphone volume, include party audio from friends, and see a list of viewers and how long you’ve been streaming with an overlay on top of your games.The Twitch integration also includes the ability to switch resolution and bitrates from 360p at 500kbps up... Continue reading…

Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images Rental car company Hertz has ordered 100,000 Teslas as part of an ambitious plan to electrify its fleet. A first tranche of Tesla’s Model 3 sedans will be available to rent from Hertz in major US and European markets from early November, said the company in a press statement. The announcement comes just months after Hertz escaped bankruptcy.After the purchase was announced, Tesla’s stock price reached as high as $998.74 early in the day, increasing its market cap to over $1 trillion before the price dropped again. However, by the time the market closed for the day, its price had risen again, finishing at $1,024.86 per share for a market cap of $1.01 trillion. As CNBC notes, that put it in the rare company of other trillion-dollar market... Continue reading…

Photo illustration by William Joel | Photo by Andrew Caballero-Reynolds / AFP via Getty Images Facebook probably wishes it had a delete button for its timeline now that it’s threatening an upcoming TV show with a lawsuit for potentially tarnishing the brand’s reputation.Doomsday Machine is the upcoming television adaption of An Ugly Truth, a book that exposes Facebook’s missteps on issues like misinformation, hate speech, user security. The drama will star Claire Foy as Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg and will tackle the chaos surrounding misinformation during the 2016 election, as well as more recent controversies like the XCheck program, which let celebrities and other high-profile figures bypass content moderation.As the series begins to come together, Facebook is threatening producers Anonymous Content with a lawsuit — and it’s... Continue reading…

Smart alarm clocks like this Echo Dot with Clock have lots of great features, but are missing one key feature. When you buy a product labeled “smart,” it should be better than the “dumb” version, especially considering it costs twice as much (at least). But that’s not the case with smart alarm clocks, which are very dumb in one specific way.Smart alarm clocks are bedside buzzers with smart features, letting you set an alarm with just your voice, waking you up with your favorite Spotify playlist, possibly tracking your sleep, and definitely controlling your smart home. Most have touch screens, some have radar, very few have cameras (thankfully), and others can use lighting to wake you up more naturally than a jarring buzzer. But what none of them have is a backup battery, something that’s been standard on the dumb versions for decades.If your... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg says he’s redirected teams within his company to “make serving young adults their north star.” The comment, made on a call with investors this afternoon, speaks to Facebooks’ concerns about declining usage among teens and young adults.“So much of our services have gotten dialed to be the best for the most people who use them, rather than specifically for young adults,” Zuckerberg said.TikTok is “one of the most effective competitors we’ve ever faced”He suggested the change will be more than just lip service. Facebook usage among older users will grow slower than it otherwise would have because of the changes, Zuckerberg said. Even with those tradeoffs, he said, “I think it’s the right approach.”Zuckerberg... Continue reading…

An email sent to Jeff Bezos from an Amazon warehouse worker began an internal investigation that found that the e-commerce giant falls behind when it comes to supporting its 1.3 million employees, according to The New York Times.From unjustified terminations to losing benefits with no warning, the employees inside the warehouse and the ones administering the leaves found themselves on the brink of burnout and sacrificing their lives to make up for countless HR issues related to paid and unpaid leave. Employees struggled to reach case managers, and doctor’s notes seem to simply disappear as paychecks were docked.To add to the dysfunction, Amazon’s team didn’t have any policies to accommodate local laws like one in its home state. An... Continue reading…

Anker is introducing MagGo, its lineup of six MagSafe-compatible products for iPhones. | Anker Bored by the few Apple-certified MagSafe accessories like the MagSafe Battery Pack, MagSafe wallet (2021), or the MagSafe Duo Charger, and feel stifled by its small ecosystem? If you want to expand your MagSafe-compatible collection, you’ll need to look to third-party accessory makers like Anker for some fresh ideas.Anker, known for its affordable charging products like portable batteries and universal plugs, is introducing its own suite of MagSafe-compatible gadgets called MagGo that go beyond just wirelessly charging your iPhone 12 or 13. Its opening lineup has six new gadgets that take advantage of the convenience and security of attaching to the phone by magnets — these products are ideal for when you’re on the move and at home.B... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Facebook plans to spend at least $10 billion this year on Facebook Reality Labs, its metaverse division tasked with creating AR and VR hardware, software, and content.“We are committed to bringing this long-term vision to life and we expect to increase our investments for the next several years,” the company wrote in its third-quarter earnings release this afternoon. Facebook sees AR and VR as being core to “the next generation of online social experiences.”A sign that Reality Labs should be judged separately from Facebook’s core appsThe division, which already makes the Oculus Quest headset and Portal lineup of calling devices, is clearly being positioned as the next big thing inside of Facebook. For one, CEO Mark Zuckerberg has been... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge According to TechCrunch, Best Buy, Home Depot, and Lowes will no longer be selling security cameras from Lorex and Ezviz after the outlet reported on the brands’ parent companies’ involvement in supplying the Chinese government with surveillance tech.According to the US government, both Dahua (Lorex’s owner) and Hikvision (Ezviz’s owner) stand implicated in human rights violations and abuses in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. They have reportedly helped supply surveillance equipment for monitoring ethnic minorities. One of the largest oppressed groups is the Uyghurs, a largely Muslim ethnic group the Chinese government is accused of putting in detention or reeducation camps, using as forced labor, and more.The home security... Continue reading…

Photo: FaZe Clan/Twitter Faze Clan is on track to become a publicly traded company. The competitive esports group is merging with B. Riley Principal 150 Merger Corp. in a deal that values the combined companies at $1 billion (via Markets Insider). As a part of the deal, Faze Clan estimates it can get up to $291 million to help fund its growth, according to a post on Faze Clan’s website.

The National Transportation Safety Board is not happy with Tesla’s failure to respond to its safety recommendations made four years ago concerning the company’s controversial driver assist feature, Autopilot.In 2017, NTSB recommended that Tesla and five other automakers install driver monitoring systems in their vehicles to ensure that drivers stay vigilant even when active safety systems are engaged. The board also implored automakers to limit the use of driver assist features on highways. The recommendations were made in response to an investigation into a crash in which a Tesla owner was killed when his car slammed into a truck that was crossing a highway.The five other automakers officially responded to the recommendations within... Continue reading…

T-Mobile has delayed its plans to shut down Sprint’s CDMA network | Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge T-Mobile said it will delay its planned shutdown of Sprint’s 3G network by three months to ensure its “partners” have time to help customers with the transition. It had originally planned to phase out the network in January; that date has now been pushed to March 31st, 2022.“Recently it’s become increasingly clear that some of those partners haven’t followed through on their responsibility to help their customers through this shift,” the company said in a statement. “So, we’re stepping up on their behalf.”T-Mobile’s statement doesn’t mention it by name, but likely is referring to Dish Network. The two sides have tangled over T-Mobile’s announcement it was shutting down Sprint’s legacy network, because of the impact it would have on... Continue reading…

Here’s the Samsung Galaxy Book. | Image: Samsung Samsung has announced three new additions to its Galaxy Book line: the Galaxy Book, the Galaxy Book Odyssey, and the Galaxy Book Pro 360 5G. While none of the models have features that will knock your socks off, they seem like a natural progression of Samsung’s recent efforts to bring the Galaxy Book line out of the enthusiast space and into the mainstream.The most accessible offering looks to be the regular 15.6-inch Galaxy Book. This is the only one of the three that’s available now; the other two products hit shelves November 11th. I’m currently seeing a $749.99 model at Best Buy that includes a Core i5-1165G7, 8GB of memory, and 256GB of storage, as well as a Core i7-1165G7 / 16GB / 512GB configuration for $999.99. Those seem like... Continue reading…

Apple’s new M1-equipped iMac. | Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge The latest version of macOS, Monterey, is now available to download according to Apple. The software has been available in public beta for several months, but today’s release means Apple thinks the software is ready for everyday use.As is tradition, Apple announced its latest version of macOS at WWDC in June. New features include the ability to set Macs as an AirPlay target to play content from iPhones and iPads, as well as Shortcuts, Apple’s iOS automation software. There have also been improvements made to FaceTime, as well as a new Quick Note feature. For a full rundown of what’s on the way, check out our preview from July, as well as Apple’s own feature list.Apple’s drag-and-drop demo from WWDC 2021.Unfortunately, some of... Continue reading…

Oculus.com Facebook has been teasing work on a pro version of its Oculus Quest headset for quite some time, and now a series of what appear to be setup videos for the unreleased product have leaked from its own servers.The videos were first spotted on Reddit over the weekend and downloaded from Oculus.com by The Verge and embedded below. They show an unreleased, dark-colored headset being used to customize virtual avatars with what looks like full body tracking, new controllers with a charging dock, and more footage of the Horizon Workrooms app for work collaboration in VR.Executives from Facebook have teased the possibility of a pro version of the Oculus Quest for a while, and on October 28th, the company is hosting its annual Connect... Continue reading…

Photo by Chaim Gartenberg / The Verge Apple is releasing iOS 15.1 and iPadOS 15.1 today, and the big new feature is SharePlay’s return. SharePlay is a feature that was originally supposed to ship in iOS 15; it lets people call friends or family and watch movies, TV, or listen to music together. SharePlay syncs content so everyone can watch it at the same time.iOS 15.1 also includes some improvements to the camera options for iPhone 13 Pro models. A new Auto Macro toggle for the ‌iPhone 13 Pro‌ is available, allowing you to switch off the automatic macro mode if you find it annoying. ProRes video capture is also available in iOS 15.1, so you can capture even better quality video on an iPhone 13 Pro at 30fps / 1080p on 128GB models or 4K on 256GB models and above.Apple is... Continue reading…

Photo by Panic It’s hard to believe that the prototype for the original iPod is something that you can’t even fit into your pocket. Panic, a software development group for macOS and iOS, dredged up the prototype for the original iPod — something that Apple probably never wanted to see again — in honor of the iPod’s 20th anniversary (via 9to5Mac). Photo by Panic As funny as it would be if Apple was actually trying to make the iPod look like a failed attempt at a pocket-sized DVD player, that’s (sadly) not the case. A tweet from Tony Fadell, the inventor of the iPod, confirms that the prototype was designed to prevent the real iPod design from getting leaked ahead of its launch.

Mastercard will let banks on its payments network integrate cryptocurrencies into their products | Photo Illustration by Pavlo Gonchar/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images Mastercard has signed a deal with cryptocurrency firm Bakkt to make crypto options available to merchants and banks across its payments network, the company announced Monday. The news was first reported by CNBC.Banks on Mastercard’s global payments network will be able to provide cryptocurrency rewards on credit and debit cards, for example, and reward points on purchases like airlines or hotels can be paid out in cryptocurrency. Consumers will be able to convert their crypto holdings to pay for purchases and hold digital assets through custodial wallets on Bakkt’s platform.Mastercard said earlier this year it would start allowing its cardholders to conduct some transactions on specific cryptocurrencies on its network, and it said in... Continue reading…

An artistic rendering of Orbital Reef with one of Boeing’s Starliner vehicles visiting. | Image: Blue Origin Jeff Bezos’ spaceflight venture Blue Origin announced plans to build its own free-flying space station today. Called Orbital Reef, the future space station will begin operating in the second half of this decade, according to Blue Origin, providing a place for researchers, industrial and commercial customers, and international partners to visit and work.Blue Origin is working on the Orbital Reef project in partnership with spaceflight company Sierra Space, a subsidiary of the Sierra Nevada Corporation. Sierra Space’s most well-known project is the Dream Chaser, a winged spaceplane designed to carry cargo — and perhaps people one day — to the International Space Station. Dream Chaser is scheduled to begin cargo flights in 2022. Blue... Continue reading…

A massive new document release shows chaos and confusion inside the world’s most powerful social network Continue reading…

Halo Infinite’s new campaign trailer showcased all the Banished-beating activities the Master Chief will get up to while exploring the mysterious Zeta Halo ring. Hidden among the updates is a neat little callback to the game’s first infamous trailer, featuring a new face on an old friend.Craig The Brute is back and he’s had some work done.Craig became the Halo Infinite meme back when Microsoft debuted an eight-minute demo highlighting Infinite’s campaign and gameplay. Fans picked the demo apart, lambasting it for its seemingly poor-quality graphics that Craig — the name given to the brute enemy looking extremely nonplussed that the Master Chief is trying to bash his face in — came to represent.In the new trailer, that’s not the Craig... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Zoom is following through on its promise to add auto-generated closed captions to all free Zoom meetings accounts to make its service more accessible, the company announced Monday. The captions are only available in English, but the company says it plans to expand to other languages in the future.“It’s important to us that everyone can successfully connect, communicate, and participate using Zoom,” said Theresa Larkin, the company’s product marketing manager of meetings & chat. “Without the proper accessibility tools, people with disabilities face tremendous barriers when using video communication solutions.” Zoom Zoom has added captions for free accounts Zoom had previously offered AI-powered live... Continue reading…

Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images Samsung foldable owners will soon have more options for repairing their devices, with over 100 Best Buy stores gearing up to offer repairs in “early November,” Samsung announced today. The retailer has long offered authorized repairs for Samsung devices, but previously it only listed Galaxy S and Galaxy Note devices as those it will repair.Expanding its repair options to foldables is important given the ongoing concerns people have about durability, especially when it comes to their internal folding displays. And when it comes to foldables, you’ll almost certainly want to turn to a professional for service. The devices are filled with stuff like tape, glue, and goo, that make successful home repairs very difficult to pull off.F... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro Twitter is working on a tab that shows off a user’s NFT collection, and it’s beginning to look a lot more complete. The platform first began working on the feature in September — a tweet from Mada Aflak, a software engineer for Twitter, first showed off the early stages of its experiment in late September.

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Tesla wants to keep secret its response to the federal investigation into its Autopilot driver assist system. In a memo submitted to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) last week, regulators noted that Tesla has requested “confidential business information (CBI) treatment for the entirety of the information request submission.”If Tesla’s request is granted, it would effectively bar the public from seeing the company’s response to a host of information that NHTSA has requested regarding its probe into Autopilot and possible defects.If Tesla’s request is granted, it would effectively bar the public from seeing the company’s responseThe agency wants to know why Tesla didn’t issue a recall for Autopilot after it... Continue reading…

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge Last week, Apple introduced its new generation of MacBook Pro laptops, featuring a new design (complete with a notched screen) and faster M1 chips. If you had your eye on the 14-inch model instead of the 16-inch MacBook Pro, you can save just a little bit of cash on it when you preorder at Amazon. The configuration that has the M1 Pro chip (eight-core CPU, 14-core GPU), 16GB of RAM, and a 512GB SSD is $1,949.99 instead of $2,000. A $50 discount isn’t a whole lot, but it’s something.Verge editor-in-chief Nilay Patel just posted first impressions of his time with the latest MacBook Pro. It’s not a review (stay tuned for that), but check it out if you want to see some fresh images, along with takeaways from real-world usage of the M1 Pro... Continue reading…

Microsoft has finally revealed a new look at Halo Infinite’s campaign mode, marking the first time that developer 343 Industries has shown the campaign since its initial gameplay reveal in July 2020.The new six-minute trailer shows off a lot of Infinite’s new gameplay and systems in a short amount of time, including new weapons, new enemies, menacing bosses, and a new AI companion character that will be accompanying players called “The Weapon.” The overview also shows off some of Infinite’s new open world gameplay and RPG style gameplay additions, which include optional bases and objectives for players to pursue and selectable upgrades for equipment. Set after 2015’s Halo 5: Guardians, Infinite is the first mainline Halo... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Amazon has two new programs that integrate Alexa into hospitals and senior living communities, the company announced today. They’re run through Alexa Smart Properties, which allows organizations to control a centralized Alexa system.“Early on in the pandemic, hospitals and senior living communities reached out to us and asked us to help them set up Alexa and voice in their communities,” Liron Torres, global leader for Alexa Smart Properties, said in an interview with The Verge. Hospitals wanted ways to interact with patients without using protective equipment, and senior living communities wanted to connect residents with family members and staff, she says.The program lets senior living facilities use Amazon Echo devices to send... Continue reading…

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales New chips, familiar ports, and actual volume buttons — it might be love Continue reading…

Steam games can be streamed from GeForce Now on an Xbox. Nvidia is unlocking access to its GeForce Now streaming service on Microsoft Edge today, allowing Xbox owners to play Steam PC games on their consoles. GeForce Now includes access to more than 1,000 PC games, and Nvidia has finally started supporting the Edge browser that now ships on Xbox in a beta update to GeForce Now today.It brings the dream of playing PC games on an Xbox a step closer to reality, as the result is easy access to stream PC games to an Xbox. As the base GeForce Now service is free, you can stream popular PC games like Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, DOTA 2, and League of Legends at 1080p for an hourlong session.I’ve been able to do this in the past using Parsec, which is essentially a remote desktop app that lets... Continue reading…

Photo by Horst Galuschka/picture alliance via Getty Images Tesla’s Model 3 has become the first electrical vehicle to top monthly sales of new cars in Europe, beating stalwarts like the Renault Clio and Volkswagen Golf to claim pole position.Sales data shared by research firm Jato Dynamics and first reported by Bloomberg News shows Tesla with a healthy lead over its rivals, selling 24,591 Model 3s in September compared to the 18,264 sales for the Renault Clio in the number two spot. This also marks the first time that a car made outside of Europe has been a monthly best-seller there.The sales data suggests that the automotive market is slowly but surely moving away from combustion engines to electric vehicles. This is helped in no small part by various government subsidies to reduce the price... Continue reading…

Ever needed to quickly edit something or someone out of an image?Maybe it’s the stranger who wandered into your family photo, or the stand holding up your final artwork for school? Whatever the job, if you don’t have the time or Photoshop skills needed to edit the thing yourself, why not try Cleanup.pictures — a handy web tool that does exactly what it promises in the URL.Just upload your picture, paint over the thing you want removed with the brush tool, and hey presto: new image. The results aren’t up to the standards of professionals, especially if the picture is particularly busy or complex, but they’re surprisingly good. The tool is also just quite fun to play around with. You can check out some examples in the gallery below:C... Continue reading…

The world’s largest social network is internally grappling with an existential crisis: an aging user base Continue reading…

Leaked documents reveal a huge, opaque system Continue reading…

A Discord profile showing that a friend is in a game’s lobby. | Image: EA EA is adding support for Discord’s “Rich Presence” feature to some of its titles, which allows your Discord contacts to see more information about what you’re up to in-game, the game maker has announced. It works by linking your Discord account with the EA App, the new launcher that’s a successor to EA’s Origin.Previously, Discord would show what EA game you were playing, and for how long. But EA’s Rich Presence integration allows Discord to show off more detailed information like “which game mode you’re in, how long you’ve been playing, and whether or not you’re ready to partner up for something different,” EA says.It’ll even show if you’re interested in partnering upDiscord’s Rich Presence feature is already supported across other... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Tesla’s decision to test its “Full Self Driving” advanced driver assistance software with untrained vehicle owners on public roads has attracted scrutiny and criticism, and that was before this latest release.Version 10.3 began rolling out on Saturday night / Sunday morning with a long list of release notes. The list mentions changes starting with introducing driver profiles that can swap between different characteristics for following distance, rolling stops, or exiting passing lanes. It’s supposed to better detect brake lights, turn signals, and hazard lights from other vehicles, along with reduced false slowdowns and improved offsetting for pedestrians.However, on Sunday afternoon Elon Musk tweeted that Tesla is “Seeing some issues... Continue reading…

Four of Teslas EVs got price hikes this weekend | Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge Tesla quietly raised prices of four of its electric vehicles this weekend, a few days after the automaker announced a record $1.6 billion profit in its third quarter. First reported by Electrek, the base Model 3 and Model Y electric vehicles are each priced $2,000 higher, at $43,990 and $56,990 respectively. In addition, the base Model S and Model X vehicles will each cost $5,000 more, at $94,990 and $104,990Tesla had a banner third quarter despite the global semiconductor shortage that has plagued other carmakers. Tesla CEO Elon Musk said in June that Tesla’s incremental price hikes on the Model 3 and Model Y during the first half of 2021 were due in large part to supply chain shortages. But the company was able to rewrite its vehicle... Continue reading…

Will Smith stars as Venus and Serena Williams’ father in King Richard | Warner Bros. Succession is back, thank goodness, and with it the awkward bravado of Kendall Roy, who would like his Twitter to be off the hook and whose plan to take over his family’s empire is essentially a series of hashtaggable platitudes. Still the squirmiest show on streaming!Here’s this week’s trailers roundup:King Richard Will Smith stars in King Richard, the story of Serena and Venus Williams, told from the point of view of their father, whose determination (which is putting it mildly) helped drive his daughters to be the greatest tennis players of their generation. Smith’s performance in King Richard, which debuted at the Telluride Film Festival in September, is already generating Oscar buzz and honestly it’s not hard to see why from... Continue reading…

Ship times for MacBook Pro models have slid into December Shipping estimates on the Apple Store for new 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro pre-orders have started sliding into late November and early December. As of Sunday morning, estimates for the standard configurations of the 14-inch MacBook Pro were showing delivery dates between November 16th and 23rd. Customizing a 14-inch Pro could push the estimated delivery into mid-December.For the 16-inch MacBook Pro, standard configurations are showing estimated shipping times between November 23rd and December 1st, with customized options also showing mid-December ship dates depending what you choose. screen grab The Apple Online Store showing estimated shipping dates for the new 16-inch MacBook Pro as of October 24th. A... Continue reading…

The Halo Needler is one of the most memorable video game weapons ever designed: an alien rifle that shoots homing spikes of crystalline plasma that explode. While clearly taking some inspiration from The Fifth Element’s “replay gun” in shape and functionality, it’s gained a following of its own. Now, Hasbro has announced a foam-firing Nerf replica of the Needler that might finally do it justice.The $100 Nerf LMTD Halo Needler follows the company’s Aliens Pulse Rifle and The Mandalorian Amban Phase-pulse blaster in asking the question: what if Hasbro built a cosplay-grade Nerf blaster for its biggest fans instead of something that needs to sell like a toy? The answer is a 10-round fully automatic dart blaster with light-up spikes whose... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Microsoft is reversing a decision to remove a key feature from its upcoming .NET 6 release, after a public outcry from the open source community. Microsoft angered the .NET open source community earlier this week by removing a key part of Hot Reload in the upcoming release of .NET 6, a feature that allows developers to modify source code while an app is running and immediately see the results.It’s a feature many had been looking forward to using in Visual Studio Code and across multiple platforms, until Microsoft made a controversial last-minute decision to lock it to Visual Studio 2022 which is a mostly paid product that’s limited to Windows. Sources at Microsoft, speaking on condition of anonymity, told The Verge that the last-minute... Continue reading…

Image: Clubhouse Clubhouse is making it possible for people to share outside links and monetize their work on the platform. Today at The Verge’s On The Verge event, Clubhouse CEO Paul Davison and global head of marketing Maya Watson announced a new pinned links feature, which allows moderators to place outside links at the top of a room. These links can direct listeners to whatever moderators want, like a Patreon page, a news article, or a podcast.Certain links won’t be allowed for security and moderation reasons. Davison didn’t explicitly name the types of links that wouldn’t be allowed, but he suggested links to OnlyFans wouldn’t be accepted because links to porn are banned. Anyone can add, change, or remove a link, so long as they’re a moderator of a... Continue reading…

Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge For this weekend, you can get a whole year of Playstation Plus at Eneba for just $39 by using the code 365USVERGE at checkout. Anyone who owns a PlayStation 4 or PlayStation 5 should consider becoming a PlayStation Plus subscriber. By becoming one, you get access to a variety of perks, including online multiplayer, cloud storage for saves, and complementary games every month, as well as exclusive discounts. This discount is only valid through Saturday, October 23rd, though, so you’ll have to move fast.A sharp, new entry in the Logitech arsenal of gaming accessories is the Logitech G305, which is currently available for just $40 at Amazon, bringing it down to its lowest price since January. This false ambidextrous, wireless mouse... Continue reading…

Photo by Sean Hollister / The Verge We are literally right now celebrating The Verge’s 10-year anniversary in New York City, but we couldn’t throw an epic two-day event without also bringing you a teensy bit of tech news — and Eero co-founder and CEO Nick Weaver just did that at On The Verge. Weaver says that Eero, an early adopter of the Thread protocol, will be upgrading all its Thread-equipped Wi-Fi routers to fully support Matter as well. Matter is the upcoming 2022 standard that should allow for easier setup of smart home devices, with any compatible Matter host able to discover and work with any Matter client. Amazon smart home rivals Apple and Google are also on board with Matter.“It does feel different this time,” Weaver says, asked about his company’s long... Continue reading…

Image: Apple When Apple announced the 12.9-inch iPad Pro with Mini LED backlighting earlier this year, I knew it was time to upgrade from my 2018 model. And I wasn’t disappointed. The improved brightness (especially when watching movies in HDR) and superior contrast have made the purchase worthwhile — even if iPadOS continues to underwhelm and disappoint in other ways. It’s a wonderful screen that makes me want to use the iPad wherever I can instead of my laptop.As a refresher of what Mini LED is, there are thousands of tiny LEDs behind the display — much smaller than those in conventional TVs or LCD displays — that allow for more precise backlighting. In turn, this leads to deeper black levels and all of the other benefits mentioned above. Apple’s... Continue reading…

Almost infinite listening, so long as the weather’s kind Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge A second Facebook whistleblower has come forward with a new set of allegations about how the social media platform does business. First reported by the Washington Post, the person is a former member of Facebook’s integrity team and says the company puts profits before efforts to fight hate speech and misinformation on its platform.In the affidavit, copies of which were provided to The Verge, the whistleblower alleges, among other things, that a former Facebook communications official dismissed concerns about interference by Russia in the 2016 presidential election, assisted unwittingly by Facebook. Tucker Bounds said, according to the affidavit, that the situation would be “a flash in the pan. Some legislators will get pissy. And then... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge A post on Twitter’s blog reveals that Twitter’s algorithm promotes right-leaning content more often than left — but the reasons for that remain unclear. The findings drew from an internal study on Twitter’s algorithmic amplification of political content.During the study, Twitter looked at millions of tweets posted between April 1st and August 15th, 2020. These tweets were from news outlets and elected officials in Canada, France, Germany, Japan, Spain, the UK, and the US. In all countries studied, except Germany, Twitter found that right-leaning accounts “receive more algorithmic amplification than the political left.” It also discovered that right-leaning content from news outlets benefit from the same bias.“Negative posts about... Continue reading…

Microsoft has spent the past 10 years embracing open-source software and, at several points, even admitting it loves Linux and the open source community. The Linux Foundation even praised Microsoft for working with the open source community after the company joined the foundation nearly five years ago. All of this goodwill could be about to come crashing down, thanks to a storm that’s brewing in the .NET community — Microsoft’s flagship development toolkit and core software framework.A controversial business decision inside Microsoft has left many questioning the company’s commitment to open source. Multiple sources at Microsoft tell The Verge that it has also angered lots of developers inside the company but that they’ve effectively... Continue reading…