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A missed opportunity Continue reading…

Photo by KIRILL KUDRYAVTSEV/AFP via Getty Images Facebook moderators are protesting low wages at contracting agency Accenture in the form of a mobile billboard and an internal letter, according to a tip received by The Verge. Most of all, moderators say they just want to be treated as humans.The content moderators, who are contracted by Accenture, will run a mobile billboard today targeting Accenture CEO Julie Sweet. The billboard features a picture of Sweet, along with a prominent statement that reads: “Julie Sweet stop exploiting your workers. Pay up. Clean it up. Fix it.” Sweet made a total of $17 million in 2020 alone, a sum that shot up drastically from 2019. The mobile billboard will start its journey in Bethesda, Maryland, the very place that Sweet resides, and come to a stop... Continue reading…

Microsoft Flight Simulator: Game of the Year Edition is arriving on November 18th with DirectX 12 support. The free update will include five new aircraft, eight new airports, and new discovery flights and tutorials. The big addition will be DirectX 12 support for PC players.Asobo, the developers of Microsoft Flight Simulator, already shipped an update earlier this year that included huge PC performance improvements. This new DirectX 12 update should improve things even further for certain PCs, as DirectX 12 includes better CPU utilization.The move to DirectX 12 will also open the door to ray tracing in Microsoft Flight Simulator in the future. Effects should include better water, improved shadows, and the usual reflections we expect... Continue reading…

The first battery-powered smart display, the Portal Go lets you bring video calling to every room in your home Continue reading…

Google will likely reveal more about the Pixel 6 lineup at its October 19th event. Google’s virtual event is set for 1PM ET / 10AM PT on October 19th Continue reading…

The Pixel 6, 6 Pro, and Android 12 will bring a fresh look to Google’s latest hardware. | Image: Google With the number of leaks and pre-announcements for the Google Pixel 6, it may seem like the phones should already be here by now. Thanks to Google, we already know the Pixel 6 and 6 Pro exist, what they will look like, and that they will use a Google-designed CPU. We also have an idea what the camera specs will be, what the new wireless charging stand probably looks like, and even what’s inside, courtesy of a teardown video that has since been removed.The only thing left is for Google to fill out the remaining details we don’t know and launch the Pixel 6 and 6 Pro. Google has one of the worst track records for keeping things secret, so perhaps hoping for a surprise or two might be a stretch, but the long-rumored, folding Pixel could... Continue reading…

Photo Illustration by Grayson Blackmon / The Verge They’re also working on biometric recognition Continue reading…

Microsoft now has more than 100 games on Xbox Game Pass that support Xbox touch controls. The software giant is adding 13 titles to the list of touch-enabled games today, bringing the total to beyond 100 — a new milestone for Xbox Game Pass.Touch-enabled games allow Xbox Game Pass members to stream games on Windows PCs, iOS devices, and Android phones and tablets without a controller. Developers have created custom on-screen controls, added gyro aim controls, and lots more to improve the experience of just using a touchscreen to play games.Touch controls first started rolling out alongside the launch of Xbox Cloud Gaming (xCloud) a year ago, with just Minecraft Dungeons supported at launch. Microsoft expanded to 10 touch-enabled games... Continue reading…

The Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 3 sports a 6.7-inch 120Hz screen that folds in half. | Image: Dan Seifert / The Verge All the buzz of yesterday’s Apple Mac event and today’s Google Pixel launch might fall a little bit flat if you’re a Samsung fan. While there is an Unpacked 2 event set for Wednesday, we’re not expecting any major new announcements aside from some fun color customization options. In the meantime, a big highlight of today is Best Buy’s deal on the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 3, knocking $150 off an unlocked model of your choice.The Galaxy Z Flip 3 is the latest model of Samsung’s normal-phone-that-folds-into-an-extra-small-phone form factor. Upon its release just two months ago, the Z Flip 3 immediately became the foldable phone to get, with a much more aggressive price compared to its Fold 3 brethren: $1,000. Now you can get it unlocked from... Continue reading…

Image: Amazon Amazon has announced that, beginning today, Amazon Music Unlimited subscribers will be able to listen to spatial audio music tracks with their favorite headphones with the Amazon Music app for Android and iOS. The company is supporting two formats of spatial audio: Dolby Atmos (which is also offered by Apple Music) and Sony’s 360 Reality Audio.The Atmos mixes are provided by record labels, so the “immersive, multidimensional audio experience” should be largely similar between Amazon and Apple’s services — with the exception of head tracking, which Amazon doesn’t support. Apple’s new third-gen AirPods, AirPods Pro, and AirPods Max all have the option for dynamic head tracking, which provides a unique sound experience as you move your... Continue reading…

Photo by Phillip Faraone/Getty Images for Politicon Happy Tuesday, y’all. Welcome to the week. As I mentioned in my Thursday Hot Pod Insider, I saw Dune on Friday — loved it. I didn’t know this movie was only part one of two, though! Unfair! Anyway, the podcast news is trickling out this week, and by trickle, I truly mean a drop or two for us to savor, so today’s a fairly short one. Insiders will get more on Thursday and Friday. Reminder that if you want to keep up with all the audio news fit for a newsletter, you can subscribe here. I’m sure your boss will be happy to expense it.On we go!Public radio + print newspapers = love ??Our Insiders got an early peek at this on Friday, but for the rest of you, Aria Bracci, my fellow Hot Pod writer, wrote about how public radio stations are... Continue reading…

Apple just announced new versions of its 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro explicitly designed around their new Arm-based M1 Pro and M1 Max CPUs. Both models are configurable with either CPU and can be equipped with up to 8TB of storage. Models that use the M1 Pro can have up to 32GB of unified memory, while models that have the M1 Max can be configured to have up to 64GB. They also feature more powerful speakers and a greater selection of ports, making them more versatile than the MacBooks that only offered USB-C ports with Thunderbolt 4. (You no longer need a dongle for HDMI or SD cards.)The last generation of MacBook Pro still has plenty of power, and for a while was the best option in terms of connectivity for Apple laptops. However,... Continue reading…

Apple’s new 140W charger. | Image: Apple Apple’s new 140W charging brick, which works with a new MagSafe charging cable to power the new 16-inch MacBook Pro, uses the USB-C Power Delivery 3.1 standard, Apple has confirmed to The Verge. As well as being included with the new 16-inch MacBook Pro, the brick is available separately for $99 (not including the USB-C-to-MagSafe cable, which costs an extra $49). Meanwhile, the new 14-inch MacBook Pros come with 67W and 96W chargers, depending on the exact model.Using the USB-C PD 3.1 standard means Apple’s new charging brick will be cross compatible with other devices that use the same power delivery standard, which was announced earlier this year alongside the USB Type-C Release 2.1 specification. It also means that MacBook owners... Continue reading…

Fortnite’s big Halloween event, Fortnitemares, is making its return. But this year’s edition comes with a fun twist: one-time Fortnite performer Ariana Grande is now officially part of the game’s lore, with a questline that turns her into “the galaxy’s greatest monster hunter.”The event runs from today until November 2nd, and — in keeping with this season’s theme — it’s centered on the ever-present cubes that now dominate Fortnite’s island. The story event is called “The Wrath of the Cube Queen,” and developer Epic describes it like this:

It’s still not a full trailer, but Netflix showed off the best look yet at its upcoming live-action Cowboy Bebop adaptation in a new teaser to celebrate the one-month countdown to the show’s debut on November 19th.Like the previous teasers for the show (which so far have included stills and the opening credits), the latest video, titled “Cowboy Bebop: The Lost Session,” isn’t actually made up of footage from the show but does show off the key trio of Spike Spiegel (John Cho), Jet Black (Mustafa Shakir), and Faye Valentine (Daniella Pineda) in action as they hunt down a bounty, get some noodles, and fight through an army of thugs.That said, it's a very fun teaser, shot with kinetic, color-coded shifting frames that bounce between... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Why Chicago Public Media and the Chicago Sun-Times are exploring a merger Continue reading…

Apple has updated the iMovie app for Macs to let users edit and adjust the focus in videos recorded using the iPhone 13’s new “cinematic mode” — though you’ll need to wait until you can update to the latest macOS Monterey on October 25th to take advantage.Introduced in September with the latest clutch of iPhones, cinematic mode uses machine learning to automatically pull focus to the key part of a frame (usually whatever face is biggest and turned towards the camera). It also lets people tap their phone screen to adjust the focal point while recording, and during playback after the video has been shot. Now, iMovie users who have the latest macOS Monterey will be able to make those same adjustments on their computer.Here are the r... Continue reading…

Apple’s iPhone 4 is often held up as a pinnacle of phone design, but what about the Fisher-Price Chatter Telephone? With its friendly features (a big smiley face painted on the front) and mobile design (thanks to its four wheels), the Chatter Telephone has long been the gadget of choice among the aesthetically discerning and the under-4s. This week, to celebrate the device’s 60th anniversary, Fisher-Price has blown our minds once more with its courage and innovation: the Chatter Telephone now makes and receives phone calls.The new Fisher-Price Chatter Telephone Bluetooth edition is, admittedly, an accessory rather than fully-fledged mobile device. It connects to your Android or iOS phone over Bluetooth, and, according to Gizmodo, you... Continue reading…

Image: Google At 1PM ET, Google will try its best to convince millions of people to buy a Pixel 6 or Pixel 6 Pro instead of Apple’s iPhone 13 or a Samsung Galaxy. Will it work? That depends on whether Google does something it’s never managed to do with a phone launch: fire on every cylinder.The Google Pixel has never been the it phone, the everything-but-the-kitchen-sink phone, the phone early adopters crave. Samsung originally cornered the Android side of that market with the Galaxy Note, and it was 2017 when Apple crossed the $1,000 mark with the iPhone X and followed it up with the pricey Pro and Pro Max.Google has arguably never had a truly flagship phone to call its own: while the search giant’s incredible camera software has made the Pixel... Continue reading…

Google is one step closer to launching its new data privacy section for Play Store apps. App developers can now fill out the relevant details via Google’s new “Data safety form” on the Play Console. The company says the required information will be visible to users from February 2022 and mandatory for developers to submit by April that same year.This new feature was announced back in May, after Apple started showing similar privacy and data disclaimers for apps in the App Store last December. The data section is supposed to give consumers a quick and simple overview of what apps are doing with their information. Developers will be encouraged to tell users the following:

The Pixel 6 Pro. | Google Google is planning a major increase in its smartphone shipments with the impending launch of the Pixel 6, according to Nikkei. The Japanese publication says that Google has ordered more than 7 million Pixel 6 smartphones to be produced, roughly doubling its entire 2020 production. Nikkei cites figures from IDC saying that Google produced 3.7 million phones last year.And according to Nikkei, it’s not just the Pixel 6 that’ll account for the boost in shipments — the lower-end Pixel 5A, released earlier this year, is said to have received more than 5 million orders. Together with the Pixel 6, which will be announced in full later today, that means Google should more than triple its 2020 smartphone output.Nikkei reports that Google is... Continue reading…

Dbrand’s new Darkplates. | Image: Dbrand Dbrand has revealed a brand-new design for its PS5 Darkplates just days after yanking the originals from sale.If you weren’t familiar with the original Darkplates, they looked exactly like the side shells of a PS5, but instead of being white, they were matte black. In its marketing of the first version, the company baited Sony to “Go ahead, sue us,” and Sony unsurprisingly followed up with a legal threat. Shockingly, just days after making a big public stink about Sony forcing it to pull the old version, Dbrand is already ready with a new design. The company says they’ve been in development since September, but conveniently would not tell us when Sony sent the cease-and-desist to begin with. Darkplates 2.0 look a little... Continue reading…

Pixel 6 color choices | Image: Google Google’s upcoming phones have made early appearances in leaks over, and over, and over, and over, and over again, so it’s really no surprise that someone seems to have obtained a retail-boxed Pixel 6 unit ahead of the fall launch event tomorrow.In a video posted initially to TikTok, then deleted but still available on Twitter for a few hours, @CristianDimboiu took a literal approach to unboxing by removing the “Sorta Seafoam” green device from its carrier without going any further. We didn’t see the screen turn on or see the screen at all.

Image: The Verge AMC has expanded open captioning on some film showings to 240 cinemas in the US, including select showtimes for all of its newer releases. The expansion of support in its theaters across the US — which has been extended to more than 100 markets — is AMC’s most significant push into captioned showings to date.A spokesperson told The Verge prior to the summer and fall of 2021, just a handful of AMC’s US theaters supported open captioning (which is viewable to everyone in the auditorium and separate from AMC’s closed-captioned assisted moviegoing initiative, which is available at all of its theaters nationwide).“We anticipate strong demand with growing awareness of open caption showtimes.”Again, not all AMC showings will include open... Continue reading…

As the Steam Deck’s December 2021 launch approaches, Valve is taking time to make sure gamers know which titles will work on its portable machine. While its site still promises “Your Steam Library, anywhere,” we’ve had an interest — and a little skepticism — about whether or not games built for PCs will actually work well on a handheld device that runs Linux.The company recently opened up its @OnDeck Twitter account to highlight demonstrations of PC games running on the Steam Deck, and today it revealed the Steam Deck Compatibility program.Steam Deck compatibility labels appear on any game published via Steam, separating them into four categories. The highest level, Verified, has a green logo with a check mark, indicating games that... Continue reading…

I nearly bought my first MacBook Pro in 2015. It would have been the first Mac I ever personally owned. But I convinced myself to wait another year for faster Intel chips — and in October 2016, Apple took away almost everything I admired about that Mac in one fell swoop.The comfortable keyboard? Replaced with a too-thin slab that also became a nightmare for many a Mac user over the years, the butterfly switch mechanism so fragile a speck of dust could lay it low. The handy SD card slot for photographers and videographers, and the HDMI port to easily connect to monitors or TVs? Both axed seemingly in favor of selling us more overpriced dongles.In the quest for ever-thinner and flashier laptops, Apple had seemingly forgotten why people... Continue reading…

These are are the Beats Fit Pro, according to 9to5Mac. | Image: 9to5Mac Apple has just announced the next generation of AirPods, but if you’ve been waiting for new Beats earbuds, you may also have something to look forward to there. A report from 9to5Mac describes the upcoming Beats Fit Pro that, according to the article, will have wingtips that seem to be designed to ensure a better fit in your ear.You can see the rumored earbuds at the top of this post or in this set of images shared by 9to5Mac, featuring the Beats Fit Pro in black, gray, white, and lavender.In addition to the new design, the earbuds will have active noise cancelation, Apple’s H1 chip for speedy pairing and Hey Siri, and support for quick pairing on Android through the Beats app, 9to5Mac reports. It also seems as if the Beats Fit Pro... Continue reading…

If you squint, you can see the old tab design. | Image: Apple Apple debuted a controversial new Safari tab design this summer at WWDC 2021, and since then, it has tweaked that look and even let you turn off many of the changes. With macOS Monterey, however, the company is going back to the way tabs looked before. On Apple’s official page for the upcoming software update, if you scroll down to the section titled “Access Tab Groups anywhere,” you can just barely see Safari’s older (and arguably better) design in the example screenshots on both a Mac and on an iPad (via Daring Fireball).Perhaps even more surprising is that the old design is now the default, according to MacRumors, which observed the reverted tabs in the macOS Monterey release candidate. However, if you want to use the design Apple... Continue reading…

Image: Apple If you were ever concerned about safely cleaning your Apple products, now you can use an official $19 piece of cloth made by Apple to do so. Apple released this polishing cloth after today’s event in addition to its new MacBook Pros, the M1 Pro and Max chips, and third-generation AirPods (via 9to5Mac). Photo by Apple The Apple-branded cloth, made of unspecified nonabrasive materials, will be available to purchase separately. Other than having an Apple logo stamped on it, it’s unclear how the cloth is any different from a typical microfiber cloth that you can get for a fraction of the price.Apple recommends using “soft, lint-free cloth” and avoiding “abrasive cloths, towels, paper towels, or similar items” when... Continue reading…

Image: Netflix Arcane, Riot’s upcoming League of Legends-adapted fantasy series debuting on Netflix next month, will become Netflix’s first show to premiere with co-streaming on Twitch.Arcane will premiere on Netflix globally on Saturday, November 6th. The partnership with Twitch will allow communities to stream Arcane’s first episode with community members and allow Twitch streamers to share their reactions in real-time.A spokesperson for Riot tells The Verge that anyone can stream the first episode of Arcane on Twitch — no pre-approval required. The series premiere will coincide with a Global Premiere Event at Riot’s Los Angeles headquarters. The company says in a press release that the event will be streamed by influencers representing over 30... Continue reading…

Apple’s most expensive laptop is, well, expensive. | Image: Apple Apple announced new M1-equipped MacBook Pros on Monday, and they look like very good upgrades, with powerful chips, adaptive refresh rate displays, the return of some beloved ports, and more. They don’t come cheap, though, with the 14-inch MBP starting at $1,999 and the 16-inch one starting at $2,499.And if you want to buy the absolute highest-end model, with 64GB of unified memory, 8TB of SSD storage, a 140W USB-C power adapter, and the M1 Max chip, that will cost you a cool $6,099, according to Apple’s online store. Image: Apple Here’s the cost and specs of the most expensive MacBook Pro. That hefty price is the tally before you buy any software for the machine, by the way; Apple helpfully recommends Final... Continue reading…

Illustrations by Alex Castro / The Verge On Monday, the Securities and Exchange Commission published an official staff report on the GameStop rally earlier this year, calling for more scrutiny of both short-seller activity and broker-dealers like Robinhood. The report is particularly harsh on Robinhood’s “payment for order flow” system, which rewards the company for increasing the number of trades.Released under the anodyne name “Staff Report on Equity and Options Market Structure Conditions in Early 2021,” the report is the SEC’s first full opportunity to weigh in on the confusion surrounding GameStop’s unlikely stock market rally, as well as some of the Robinhood features that critics say made the rally more chaotic.In January, the number of daily GameStop traders jumped... Continue reading…

Sony is testing a way to share screenshots and video captures taken on your PS5 with the PlayStation app, the company announced Monday. The new feature is part of a “limited-release beta” available to all PS5 users in Canada and Japan.Once you have the feature enabled, new captures should start to show up in the app. “Video clips and screenshots of games are available in [the PlayStation app] for 14 days after you manually create them on your PS5 console,” Sony says in an FAQ. You won’t need a PlayStation Plus membership to use the feature (at least in this beta).However, clips can only have a resolution of up to 1920x1080 to appear in the app — Sony says clips in a higher resolution won’t be uploaded. If you delete a screenshot or... Continue reading…

Universal Control, Apple’s upcoming feature that lets you control multiple devices with the same mouse and keyboard, will probably not be launching at the same time as macOS Monterey. While Apple has said that the OS upgrade will be available on October 25th, its features page has been updated to say that Universal Control will be “available later this fall,” a change spotted by MacRumors.Universal Control was one of the most impressive demos at WWDC 2021, where Craig Federhigi dragged a file from an iPad across a MacBook’s screen and then dropped it onto an iMac. While Universal Control is mostly just Apple combining technologies that it’s been developing for years, if Apple wants the real-world experience to be as good as that demo,... Continue reading…

Netflix will reopen the Bay Theatre at Palisades Village in Southern California beginning October 22nd, becoming the third physical theater with which the streamer has announced a partnership.The theater will reopen this weekend with Jeymes Samuel’s The Harder They Fall — a Western starring Zazie Beetz, Regina King, and Idris Elba, among other notable stars — beginning with multiple showings starting Friday. Adult tickets are currently listed for $12 each, while discounted and children’s tickets cost $10. Free first-come, first-served tickets to Netflix animated titles Vivo and The Mitchells vs. The Machines will also be available at the box office today through Thursday, October 21st from 3PM to 6PM PT.The company previously reopened... Continue reading…

Apple kicked off its MacBook Pro keynote a little differently today: with a sweet remix of classic Apple sound effects from the past 45 years of the company’s history, created by artist A. G. Cook — using Apple’s Pro Display XDR, MacBook Pro, and Logic Pro, of course.The song itself is called “Start Up” and is a surprisingly chill listening experience. The video’s fun, too, featuring a wide array of Apple hardware from throughout the years, including old iBooks and the sadly defunct iPod Hi-Fi. The full list of sound effects trend toward Apple’s more recent hardware, of course, but there are a few classic Easter eggs, too. The full list of sound effects, provided by Apple, is below:

Apple’s third generation of AirPods will be available on October 26th for $179. | Apple The tech world may be abuzz regarding the 14- and 16-inch MacBook Pros, but the new AirPods — announced during Apple’s “Unleashed” event today — have also conjured up a storm. Apple has finally announced a new pair of true wireless earbuds set to launch on October 26th for $179, while lowering the price of the entry-level AirPods 2 to $129.As expected, the third-generation AirPods mirror their sleeker sibling, the AirPods Pro, mostly in its new design and in some functionality, barring the active noise cancellation. For the first time since 2016, the AirPods include a wider, Pro-like charging case and shorter steams. They also boast Pro features like Adaptive EQ, which customizes your audio experience, and an intuitive force sensor for... Continue reading…

Apple just announced its third-generation AirPods with a new charging case that works with its MagSafe magnetic charging system, but the company also quietly announced that, starting today, it’ll also be including the new case with its pricier $250 AirPods Pro model, too.The new case doesn’t claim to charge Apple’s AirPod products any faster; it just has the magnets needed to attach to Apple’s MagSafe charging puck for easier alignment when charging. AirPods already worked with MagSafe, thanks to the broader Qi charging spec, so it’s more of a slight convenience than anything else, but it's good to see Apple expanding MagSafe to more products.Unfortunately, Apple also isn’t taking the opportunity here to add a reverse wireless... Continue reading…

Apple has announced a redesigned MacBook Pro, which now includes a 14-inch screen, Apple’s new M1 Pro and Max chips, a notch, squared-off design, and a wider selection of ports in addition to the standard Thunderbolt ones — it brings back the HDMI port and SD card reader and adds a MagSafe 3 connector for charging (though you can also charge it with the Thunderbolt ports if your house is littered with USB-C power bricks). It starts at $1,999 and can be ordered “today.”It has a 14.2-inch 120Hz ProMotion Mini LED display, which Apple is branding as “Liquid Retina Pro XDR.” It has slimmer bezels than the previous generation but also includes a notch, which houses a 1080p webcam but not Apple’s Face ID system. Resolution-wise, the 14-inch... Continue reading…

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge Apple announced its third-generation AirPods during today’s big hardware event: a $179 set of earbuds that are much closer to the AirPods Pro in terms of features and design. Though, it’s not all bad news if you don’t want to spend that much on AirPods. As a result of this new set, Apple has permanently slashed the price of its second-gen AirPods that include a wired charging case from $159 to $129.The model that includes a wireless charging case is no longer available for purchase (through Apple, at least). It does, however, still sell the wireless charging case separately for $79, but I really wouldn’t encourage buying that versus just getting the new, third-generation AirPods.Apple currently has a lineup of AirPods that starts at... Continue reading…

Apple has announced an event for October 18th, with a video containing the title “Unleashed.” If you’ve been watching the rumor mill, it won’t come as a surprise — the company still has a lot of products that are expected to come out this year but haven’t shown up in an Apple keynote.Chief among those are new, more powerful MacBook Pros, which will follow the incredible Apple Silicon-powered 13-inch MacBook Pro that launched last November. The company is also expected to release new AirPods, and it’s got an entire OS that was announced but hasn’t shipped. Read on for a deep dive into the rumors surrounding these products and more.Redesigned MacBook ProsMost of the rumors about the event concern redesigned MacBook Pros, which are e... Continue reading…

Actress Yulia Peresild was part of a film crew that went to the International Space Station to film scenes for a movie. She returned to Earth Sunday along with Klim Shipenko and Roscosmos cosmonaut Oleg Novitsky. | Photo by Sergei Savostyanov\TASS via Getty Images A Russian actress and director-producer who spent 12 days aboard the International Space Station returned to Earth early Sunday along with cosmonaut Oleg Novitskiy who had been in space for 191 days. Actress Yulia Peresild and director-producer Klim Shipenko went up to the ISS on October 5th, to film scenes for the upcoming movie The Challenge, about a Russian doctor, played by Peresild, who travels to the space station to treat a sick cosmonaut.The three were aboard the Soyuz MS-18 spacecraft, which landed at 12:35AM ET in rural Kazakhstan, and will return to Russia later Sunday. Novitskiy arrived at the ISS on April 9th for his third mission, and has now spent a total of 531 days in space.The Soyuz craft the three were on had a... Continue reading…