The Verge

The company apparently grew too large during the pandemic. | Image: Getty Cameo, the company that lets you pay a celebrity to record a custom message or hop on a video call with you, has announced that it’s laying off 87 people, or around a quarter of its staff, according to The Information. According to the report, employees got the news at an all-hands meeting on Wednesday.The company’s co-founder and CEO Steven Galanis says the layoffs are a “course correction” after Cameo grew massively during the pandemic. The company went “from just over 100 to nearly 400” employees during lockdown, according to Galanis’ statement to Variety. Since then, he says, “market conditions have rapidly changed.” Early in 2021, Variety reported that the company’s revenue was 4.5 times higher in 2020 than it had been in 2019.... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Today Google hardware boss Rick Osterloh confirmed that the company has acquired Raxium, a five-year-old startup with MicroLED technology that could be key in building a new generation of augmented, virtual, and mixed reality headsets.This adds to the evidence that Google’s next big AR move is growing closer: it previously acquired the glasses maker North in 2020, and is reportedly hiring engineers to build an augmented reality operating system. We learned in January that Google Labs is building an AR headset called “Project Iris,” under the same management as the Project Starline high-res video chat demo shown during its I/O event last year. Image: Raxium When The Information first reported Google’s Raxium... Continue reading…

But will I have to claim that as income on my taxes? Intuit, the company behind TurboTax, has agreed to pay out $141 million after it “cheated millions of low-income Americans out of free tax filing services,” in the words of New York Attorney General Letitia James. Most of that money will go to consumers that were tricked into paying for its service. This comes as the result of an agreement it made with the AG (and officials from all 50 states and DC), which will also require the company to change its marketing practices.According to the Attorney General’s press release, Intuit will owe people $30 for every year they were tricked into paying for TurboTax between 2016 and 2018. The document notes that “impacted consumers will automatically receive notices and a check by mail.”TurboTax... Continue reading…

Bluesky Bluesky, Twitter’s open-source offshoot, has released early code for a decentralized social network protocol. The system is dubbed the Authenticated Data Experiment (or ADX) and is available on GitHub for developers to test, although Bluesky emphasizes that it’s incomplete. It’s one of the most substantive windows into Bluesky’s workings since the project was conceived in 2019 and formally incorporated in early 2022.Bluesky CEO Jay Graber writes that ADX will be the start of a semi-public development process. “We’re going to take a middle path of releasing work before it’s complete, but also giving ourselves time to workshop new directions at early stages,” Graber says. The GitHub repository includes an overview of ADX’s goals and... Continue reading…

Project Gene5is lives. | Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Dish Network has taken a big step forward on its journey to becoming the country’s fourth wireless carrier — one that it should have taken, oh, let’s say many months ago. As reported by Axios, its 5G network, aka Project Genesis, has finally launched to paying customers in Las Vegas, graduating from the beta program that began late last year. For $30 per month it includes unlimited 5G data, talk, text, and, uh, this: “Additionally, we include a white-glove delivery experience and exclusive access to the Project Genesis app where you can earn rewards.” Rewards including... NFTs.As part of T-Mobile’s deal to buy Sprint, Dish Network has been tasked by the FCC with taking Sprint’s place as our fourth carrier. It’s taking an unconventional... Continue reading…

Starbucks Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz, along with executive vice president and chief marketing officer Brady Brewer, explained to investors during their Q2 2022 earnings presentation that the coffee company will add “new concepts such as ownership and community-based membership models that we see developing in the Web 3 space.” Brewer went further, saying “Imagine acquiring a new digital collectible from Starbucks, where that product also serves as your access pass to a global Starbucks community, one with engaging content experiences and collaboration all centered around coffee.”A post on the company blog does more to explain what all of that means:

Volkswagen’s ID 4 EV. Volkswagen’s CEO, Herbert Diess, says that the company is “basically sold out on electric vehicles in Europe and in the United States” for the year, according to a report from the Financial Times. This means that anyone hoping to get an EV from VW, Audi, or any of the group’s other brands may have to wait until 2023, as the company tries to navigate the chip shortage and production issues from COVID shutdowns in China.According to the report, VW expects its backlog of orders to keep growing. It currently has plenty of people on the list waiting to get an EV and expects to add more throughout the year. But supply chain issues will make those difficult to fill. Almost every automaker has had to halt or slow down production thanks to a... Continue reading…

T-Mobile is opening up its try-before-you-buy program to home internet. | Photo by Mitchell Clark / The Verge T-Mobile launched its 5G home internet service around this time last year with the promise of a low $50 monthly rate, easy setup, and data speeds at least as good as traditional broadband internet. In reality, it’s kind of a mixed bag. This year, it’s hoping to tempt more people away from traditional internet providers with some new offers, starting with a 15-day trial period for the service. Customers who cancel within 15 days of starting the service will get a refund as long as they return the provided internet gateway.The company is also offering to cover early termination fees if you leave your current internet provider for T-Mobile — up to $500 by way of a prepaid Mastercard. Home internet subscribers are also now included in the... Continue reading…

The day has arrived: you can now spend $159 on a USB cable and actually feel somewhat justified! That’s because Apple’s three-meter Thunderbolt 4 Pro Cable isn’t just any ol’ cord — it’s still the only Thunderbolt 4 / USB-C / USB 4 cable on the market at anywhere near its length.Want a cable that can transmit 40 gigabits per second of Thunderbolt 4 and USB 4 data, up to 8K video, and 100W of USB-C PD power to a big MacBook Pro nearly 10 feet away? It’s your only game in town. Every other company that sells a Thunderbolt 4 cable — including Belkin, CalDigit, CableMatters, CTG, OWC, and Plugable — tops out at two meters (6.6 feet). Which makes those other cables roughly just half a foot longer than Apple’s previous 1.8-meter Thunderbolt... Continue reading…

The smugness remains. Clippy, the beloved(?) paperclip-shaped assistant for Microsoft Office, has made an appearance in Halo Infinite as a series of unlockable items. IGN points out that it’s not quite clear yet how to unlock the decals, but it seems likely that equipping them won’t suddenly cover your screen in a barrage of “helpful” hints and tricks (which is unfortunate for total scrubs like me).The tweet that brought the character’s appearance to our attention shows both a Clippy nameplate and gun charm, but the character shows up in a few other places, too: you can spray paint them onto the hood of your Warthog or your Spartan’s chest. Interestingly, in most places the character shows up as “Clipster.” Clippy has also gone by Clippit, but “Clipster”... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge TikTok is opening up a new way for creators to make money. The company plans to start sharing a cut of revenue with top creators when their videos run alongside certain ads. The program mirrors how YouTube pays out creators, and it could lead to more significant payouts from the platform, which has yet to offer a substantial way for creators to make money.The new program, called TikTok Pulse, allows ads to be specifically run alongside “the top 4% of all videos on TikTok,” the company wrote in a blog post today. Creators and publishers with at least 100,000 followers are eligible to receive a cut of revenue when their videos are included.TikTok will share 50 percent of ad revenue from Pulse with approved creators, Sandie Hawkins,... Continue reading…

Prices on games and gear that won’t cost you an arm... we promise. The 4th of May is upon us, which means that retailers everywhere are offering discounts on all of their Star Wars-inspired wares. Everything from rugs to pet toys is available for less than MSRP today. However, we’re focusing mainly on games and tech from the Star Wars galaxy. Many of these sales last only for today, so you’ll have to move fast to take advantage of these savings.A galaxy of gamesYou can find nearly every game from the Star Wars library available for a discount today, whether you play on PC, Xbox, PlayStation, or Switch. You can even find classics like Star Wars Episode 1 Racer and Star Wars Republic Commando, but here are a few contemporary titles that we think deserve special attention.Mobile AccessoriesBoth... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Sonos is preparing to introduce its own voice assistant service within the next few weeks, according to people familiar with the company’s plans. The voice functionality will let customers play and control music on Sonos’ whole-home audio platform.It will be part of a forthcoming software update set to arrive first to customers in the US on June 1st, with an international rollout to follow. Sonos Voice will serve as an alternative to Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant, which Sonos already supports on its smart speakers and voice-enabled soundbars. All Sonos products that run the company’s S2 software will support Sonos Voice Control.Sonos has recently posted job openings related to the “Sonos Voice Experience,” with the company saying... Continue reading…

Image: Marvel Studios Marvel’s Moon Knight has taken a meandering path to its big, boisterous finale. Over the first five episodes, there have been detours into the afterlife, the fractured psyche of a man suffering from dissociative identity disorder, and locales ranging from the great pyramids of Egypt to a museum gift shop in London. It’s been about as confusing and disjointed as you’d expect for a show about a mercenary possessed by the spirit of an ancient, vengeful god. After all, the show has had to explain a lot: the history behind the multiple personalities; the motivations of two competing, powerful deities; the machinations of a cult-like militant organization. There’s even a backstory for a seemingly innocuous catchphrase.If you stuck it out,... Continue reading…

Leviton’s latest smart switch doesn’t require a neutral wire. If you are in an older home and want to upgrade to smart switches, I have good news. This week, lighting control company Leviton released two smart switches that don’t require a neutral wire. The Decora Smart No-Neutral Dimmer ($49.99) and Switch ($44.99) both work with the plug-in Decora Smart Wi-Fi Bridge ($19.99). Both are compatible with Apple HomeKit, Google Home, and Amazon Alexa for smart home and voice control, as is Leviton's entire Decora Smart Wi-Fi line.Most smart light switches require a neutral wire to work. As this wiring wasn’t standard in homes until the mid-1980s many houses have limited options for upgrading to smart switches. While there are choices — the popular one being Lutron Caseta — the selection is limited in... Continue reading…

Photo by Sean Zanni/Patrick McMullan via Getty Images Elon Musk’s acquisition of Twitter hasn’t been finalized yet, but the world’s richest man is keeping busy by kicking around ideas for potential changes to the platform. His latest suggestion? Charging corporations and governments to tweet.“Ultimately, the downfall of the Freemasons was giving away their stonecutting services for nothing,” tweeted Musk. “Twitter will always be free for casual users, but maybe a slight cost for commercial/government users.”As is often the case with Musk, there’s no commitment to this plan: the guy’s just tweetin’. But it does fit in with what we’ve previously heard about Musk’s ideas for the platform. Reuters reported last month that, when pitching banks on his acquisition, Musk suggested he might... Continue reading…

The refreshed Model S interior and large center display. | Image: Tesla A Model S with a factory-equipped motorized, swiveling center screen has been spotted in the wild thanks to a video posted to Twitter by Larry Li. In it, Li can be seen tilting the display from center, to left, and then to right, with the tap of a button on the screen. Note that the motorized front trunk (aka, the “frunk”) seen in the video is an aftermarket modification.A swiveling center screen represents a small quality-of-life improvement for Tesla owners. Rather than the display being static, and positioned so that both the driver and passengers can see it, it can be moved for optimum visibility by the driver when operating the vehicle, or by a passenger when parked, for example.

It’s been a years-long battle between the company, organizers, and the National Labor Relations Board. | Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge The latest on organization efforts at one of the world’s largest retailers Continue reading…

Image: Yetch Swedish inventor and YouTuber Simone Giertz (aka the “queen of shitty robots”) has revealed her latest creation: a website named after the way her last name is pronounced, “Yetch.” Giertz’s roster of inventions includes things like a toothbrushing helmet and a gnarly vegetable chopping machine. While the website doesn’t feature the “Truckla,” a Tesla Model 3 that Giertz transformed into a pickup truck, or a Lego-built photo booth for cute puppy photos, it does feature some practical accessories and items.While an all-white puzzle can sound like a pain, this one can be a funny pain for those who lose their puzzle pieces. Yetch’s “Incomplete White Puzzle” consists of 499 pieces out of a 500-piece puzzle, and since it is intentional, it... Continue reading…

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The verge A funny thing happened in 2020: AMD won the gaming laptop for the first time ever. Until the Asus Zephyrus G14, we’d never seen a laptop with an AMD CPU and AMD GPU run circles around the competition. Since then, we’ve repeatedly seen that “AMD laptop” no longer means cheap. But now, AMD is setting its sights higher than mid-range gaming machines — it just revealed it’s building a new CPU aimed at the “pinnacle of gaming performance” with the “highest core, thread and cache ever”.The new CPU line is codenamed “Dragon Range,” and they’ll live exclusively at 55W TDP and up — enough power that they’ll “largely exist in the space where gaming laptops are plugged in the majority of the time,” says AMD director of technical marketing Robert... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge A few years ago, YouTube added Live Redirects as a way for creators to hold livestreams that ended by pointing viewers to another video on their own channel for premiere events, like BTS engaging fans before showing off a new music video. Now it has adjusted Live Redirects so that live streamers on the service can bounce their audience to another livestream when they go offline. A premiere launch event for the film Top Gun: Maverick on Wednesday will be one of the first big events to take advantage of the new addition.On Twitch, this behavior is called a raid. On one hand, it’s a good way to help grow audiences and find new content, but it has also been a conduit for harassment on the platform as “hate raids” would target marginalized... Continue reading…

Image: Anker If you took one look at the first wave of modular magnetic wireless charging battery humps for the iPhone and thought, “Wake me up when they give us more than one full charge!” — then Anker may have the battery pack for you. The new Anker 633 Magnetic Battery, now available for $80 on Amazon, has twice the capacity at 10,000mAh. That’s enough to charge an iPhone 12 twice or an iPhone 13 Pro up to 1.8 times, according to Anker (via Gizmodo). Image: Anker It is not small. As you can see, attempts at fashion have gone out the window — no chic colors or fancy origami stand from Anker this time. Instead, this utilitarian battery pack boasts a traditional flip-out kickstand and what appears to be an extra USB-A port,... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Employees at a third Apple retail store have announced that they’re trying to organize a vote on whether to unionize, according to a report from The Washington Post. Workers at Apple’s Towson Town Center store in Maryland say that they’ve received signatures from a majority of the employees that would likely be able to join a union, and are planning on filing with the National Labor Relations Board to schedule an election.In a letter, the organizers say their union is called the “Coalition of Organized Retail Employees” (or AppleCORE), and say they’re not trying to “go against or create conflict with” Apple management. Instead, the workers say they want to gain access to rights they currently don’t have. While they don’t specify which... Continue reading…

Daniel Radcliffe as Weird Al. | Roku People might not have known what to expect when Roku first announced that it’d tapped Daniel Radcliffe to portray Weird Al Yankovic in its upcoming biopic, Weird: The Al Yankovic Story. But following the streamer’s inaugural upfront presentation this week and a new Weird trailer, there’s little question about what sort of energy director Eric Appel’s going for.At one point in Yankovic’s 1989 feature UHF, Yankovic plays a parody of Sylvester Stallone’s Rocky character due to Stallone himself backing out of a planned cameo. In order to approximate Stallone’s physique for the film, Yankovic donned an oiled-up muscle suit that didn’t need to look anywhere near as convincing as it did. Though Weird’s trailer doesn’t mention UHF or Stallone... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge In a bid to push people to its newer plans, AT&T is raising the price of some of its older Unlimited and Mobile Share plans. Single-line users will see up to a $6 a month increase, and people with family plans could have up to $12 a month added to their bills, according to Bloomberg.In a statement to The Verge, AT&T spokesperson Seth Bloom said, “we are encouraging our customers to explore our newer plans which offer many additional features, more flexibility for each line on their account and, in many cases, a lower monthly cost.” AT&T also said that affected customers started finding out this week and that the price changes will go into effect starting June 1st.In 2019, the company increased the prices of its Mobile Share Value data... Continue reading…

Photo: iOttie Cars have become bastions of electronic gadgetry — but that doesn’t mean that we can’t add a few of our own. Some of us are simply not content with what came with our vehicles, some of us want to have emergency gear available just in case, and some of us have older cars that need help in order to be able to accommodate modern electronics.Here are some of the gadgets that staffers at The Verge have used to upgrade their various vehicles.Bluetooth Aux Receiver for CarI’m one of those boring people who has little interest in cars other than as a way to get from point A to point B. As a result, I tend to hold on to a vehicle until it costs more to keep it running than to buy something new. My current car is a 2007 Honda Civic, which,... Continue reading…

Illustration by Harry Bhalerao / The Verge Gifts for moms of all kinds Continue reading…

A new Instagram test would make the app look even more like TikTok. According to TechCrunch, Instagram is experimenting with full-screen vertical home feeds. Upon opening the Instagram app, users immediately see vertical content meant to “bring video more front and center.” Instagram head Adam Mosseri confirmed the test in a video posted to Twitter, saying taller photos and videos would begin appearing in some feeds.

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Twitter’s pending acquisition hasn’t put a freeze on all product testing, as we’ve seen hints of the upcoming edit tweets feature leak out. And, now, the company has announced a limited test for Twitter Circle. It’s a function that’s similar to Instagram’s Close Friends feature or, if you’ve been around for a while, Google Plus.Twitter Circle will let users pick up to 150 people to join their Circle, including followers and non-followers alike. Then, when they feel like tweeting without sharing to the masses, they simply pull up the Choose Audience menu while writing a tweet and choose Twitter Circle instead of Everyone (as shown below). According to Twitter, this is different from its Communities, which also hide tweets away in an... Continue reading…

The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced Tuesday that it will close to double its cryptocurrency enforcement division, adding another 20 positions to the Crypto Assets and Cyber Unit — which has been newly renamed from the “Cyber Unit.” The total number of staff will rise from 30 to 50, increasing the agency’s ability to prosecute securities law violations related to new crypto products.In a press release, the SEC cited a booming period for crypto markets and a corresponding responsibility to keep investors safe from the growing risk of fraudulent investment schemes.“Crypto markets have exploded in recent years, with retail investors bearing the brunt of abuses in this space. Meanwhile, cyber-related threats continue... Continue reading…

Photo by Becca Farsace / The Verge Whether you’re trying to get rid of spam or avoid hearing from a former friend or ex, blocking someone’s phone number is a vital tool for helping to preserve your privacy. We’ve covered various methods of protecting yourself from robocalls, spam, and other daily annoyances. But blocking a number is often the quickest and easiest way of shutting down unwanted digital intrusions.When you block a number, you’ll no longer receive phone calls, texts, or FaceTime requests that come in from the blocked number. The person at the other end will go straight to voicemail whenever they call you, but this is their only clue that they’ve been blocked. Texts will still appear to go through as normal — even though you don’t have to deal with them.B... Continue reading…

1Password 8 for Mac came out of beta and into public release on Tuesday, bringing a more modern redesign and a number of new features to the popular password manager. But there’s one thing about the app that might be a game-changer for Mac users: a new Universal Autofill feature that means you can automatically enter passwords into apps the same as you can in browser tabs.Previously, like with most password managers, everything was seamless enough in the browser: load the webpage, click the icon, and it fills your password. But if you’re in a native app, you have to open your password manager, search for the account, and copy and paste your info into the app. With Universal Autofill, which 1Password assigns to a global ⌘\ keyboard... Continue reading…

The Blade 15 will cost you $3,499.99. | Image: Razer Razer’s new Blade 15 laptop comes with the world’s first OLED QHD 240Hz display and next-gen specs, giving the Blade 15 series a minor refresh. It sports a 12th-gen Intel Core i9-12900H processor and an Nvidia RTX 3070 Ti laptop graphics card that should help you take full advantage of the device’s upgraded display. Razer says the Blade 15 will go on sale in the last quarter of 2022 for $3,499.99.The laptop’s 15.6-inch display, which covers the entire DCI-P3 color gamut, features a quick 1ms response that should allow for a lag-free gaming experience as well as 400 nits of brightness. It comes with 32GB of DDR5 RAM, a 1TB SSD, and one additional M.2 slot that you can use to further increase storage space. You’ll also find Thunderbolt 4,... Continue reading…

The workers have reached an agreement with the company and set a date. | Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Apple Store employees in Atlanta have reached an agreement with the company to hold a union election on June 2nd, according to a copy of the stipulated election agreement obtained by The Verge. The news is an important step forward in the worker-led effort to organize with the Communications Workers of America.If the drive is successful, the Cumberland Mall location will be the first unionized Apple retail location in the US. In April, it became the first Apple retail location to file for a union election in the US. Workers at the Grand Central Terminal store in New York have also launched a union drive, as have workers at the Towson Town Center store in Maryland.Apple pushed to hold the vote in July, according to a source familiar... Continue reading…

Blizzard Blizzard has revealed its new Warcraft mobile game, Warcraft Arclight Rumble.Warcraft Arclight Rumble is a free-to-play action strategy mobile game that seems like a traditional Warcraft strategy game with a cutesy, Hearthstone-looking tower defense twist. In it, players will choose from one of five types of leaders taken from Warcraft lore to command their troops or “minis” in battle. Players will be able to play in PvE and PvP modes, earning gold to deploy more powerful minions to complete objectives like defeating a raid boss.Warcraft Arclight Rumble was first revealed, buried in Blizzard’s quarterly earnings report back in February. It represents the Blizzard arm of the publisher’s push into making original content for the mobile... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge In 2014, it was tough to be a keyboard nerd. I was using a 4-year-old keyboard I’d bought from Mattias that used Alp white switches similar to what had been found in old Mac keyboards. I desperately wanted something with the then-fabled Cherry Blue switch, but it was hard to find anything outside of a smattering of hard-to-find Corsair keyboards and imports from Ducky based in Taiwan.Eight years later people actually can understand everything I just typed above. Okay, maybe not everyone, but the size of the keyboard community has multiplied by many factors in the last eight years and there are more people than ever that know the difference between a Cherry Blue switch and an Alp white switch.Over the next three weeks, I’m hosting a... Continue reading…

Image: Paramount Plus Paramount Plus’ subscriber count has ballooned to almost 40 million with the service gaining 6.8 million subscribers in the first quarter of 2022 alone, Paramount announced in its earnings report on Tuesday. An increase in subscriber count led to more money for the company as well — its direct-to-consumer revenue, which includes Paramount Plus and its free TV streaming service, Pluto TV, increased 82 percent year over year.While revenue from subscriptions for both Pluto TV and Paramount Plus grew 95 percent year over year, advertising revenue increased 59 percent. The company says Paramount Plus subscribers watched more shows for longer periods of time as well. This, along with a higher subscriber count, was mostly driven by the service... Continue reading…

Warped Kart Racers. Later this month Apple is adding a Mario Kart-style racer to its gaming subscription service. Called Warped Kart Racers, the game brings together 20 different characters from 20th Television animated series like American Dad and King of the Hill, with gameplay that looks heavily inspired by Nintendo’s iconic racing series. It’s expected to debut on Apple Arcade on May 20th.The announcement comes as Apple details its lineup of Arcade games for May. Elsewhere on the service, BadLand Party — a multiplayer twist on the atmospheric platformer — will debut on the 6th; Goat Simulator launches on the 13th; and a 3D darts game closes out the month’s releases on the 27th.Apple has been quietly updating Arcade with notable games on a nearly... Continue reading…

The frame-shaped Echo Show 15 is currently down to $200 at multiple retailers. | Photo by Jennifer Pattison Tuohy / The Verge If you’re looking to upgrade the shoddy bulletin board in your kitchen, Amazon’s biggest Echo Show yet is currently discounted for the first time ever at Amazon and Best Buy. The Echo Show 15 launched in December for $249.99, but today, the price has dropped to just $199.99 at both retailers. On the surface, the Echo Show 15 looks like a scaled-up version of the Echo Show 10 with slimmer bezels. However, the larger, 15.6-inch screen allows for some additional functionality that you can’t get with any other Echo Show.The 1080p touchscreen can display multiple blocks of information simultaneously, dividing the home screen with calendars, weather, news, and reminders, among a handful of other useful widgets. While the Echo Show 15 is... Continue reading…

Spot, the most famous four-legged robot in the world, sometimes seems more like an animatronic entertainer than an industrial machine. But creators Boston Dynamic want to remind the world at large in a new video that this thing can do work, too.The new Spot spot, titled “No Time To Dance,” shows the quadrupedal bot carrying out a range of tasks in an industrial setting. Spot takes readings from gauges, uses an infrared camera to scan some equipment, and generates work orders for human employees. And, yes, then it does a little dance as well.Boston Dynamics is very good at making Spot seem cuteIt’s a slick video — testimony to Boston Dynamics’ ability to make a robot that has been tested for use with both the military and law... Continue reading…

Brian Cassella/Chicago Tribune/Tribune News Service via Getty Images The state of Georgia offered Rivian $1.5 billion in tax incentives for the buzzy EV company to build a factory east of Atlanta, according to documents signed by the company and local officials in the state. The factory will cost $5 billion to construct, and eventually produce 400,000 electric vehicles a year. In order to receive the money, Rivian agrees to create 7,500 jobs, with an average wage of $56,000 a year, plus benefits, by the end of 2028.Georgia officials are portraying the agreement as the largest economic development deal in the state’s history. Rivian has said it will start construction of the $5 billion facility in the summer of 2022 and expects to start making vehicles there in 2024. In addition to its R1T electric... Continue reading…

The Ford F-100 Eluminator. | Becca Farsace This 1978 Ford F-100 “Eluminator” pickup truck is the oldest vehicle I’ve ever driven, and also perhaps the newest. That’s because, despite its vintage exterior, everything inside, from the drivetrain to the dash, is less than one year old. Oh, and it’s fully electric.Turns out what I’m really driving is a 2021 Ford Mustang Mach-E GT Performance Edition, but you couldn’t tell from its gloriously restored 44-year-old truck shell from the outside. It’s a beautifully done restomod with fresh gray and copper accents, an F-100 Custom badge, and slick retro wheels.A hopeful display of support for smaller shops and tinkerersFord Performance, the automaker’s motorsports division, designed and commissioned the F-100 Eluminator and was built by... Continue reading…

Tables can now be more nicely formatted, and easily set up with rich text. | Image: Google Google has announced new dropdown and table tools for Google Docs, as it attempts to evolve its word processing software into more of a collaborative productivity tool. The search giant calls small modular features like these “smart chips,” and they’re part of the “smart canvas” initiative it launched last year. The features are rolling out over the course of this month across all Google Account tiers.The dropdown tool lets you insert a small dropdown menu into a Google Doc, with a list of customizable options to choose from. Meanwhile, there are also new table template options that can be used to quickly add nicely formatted tables into a document. It looks like a huge improvement from Google Docs’ current barebones table creation... Continue reading…

Photo Illustration by Grayson Blackmon / The Verge Stories and lessons from his new book, Build: An Unorthodox Guide to Making Things Worth Making Continue reading…

Hello, audiophiles!I am very excited to bring you my first public edition of Hot Pod. Following the trail blazed by Nick and Ashley, I’ll be in your inbox every Tuesday with scoops, news, analysis, and japes (quality of the latter not guaranteed). And, the closest I will ever get to being in a makeover montage, today I also get to introduce a fresh new look for Hot Pod courtesy of the ace design teams at The Verge and Vox Media. Readers will notice that we have an updated logo and layout with some hotter colors to accompany the Hot Pod name.So, what’s my deal? Like everyone else in modern media, I hopped around a bit before landing at The Verge. I have done stints at MSNBC, Paramount Plus, and, most relevant to you, covering media and... Continue reading…

Spotify’s Roblox debut consists of a series of interactive islands with rotating themes. | Image: Spotify Spotify has launched its own digital space on Roblox, called Spotify Island, allowing players to make music, play games, and interact with virtual artists, the company announced in a press release. Although it’s called Spotify Island, it’s more like a virtual archipelago — players can hop between other interactive music-themed islands that change throughout the year.Spotify calls its digital island an “audio oasis,” which features distinct Spotify branding, from the vibrant green color of the landscape to the heart-shaped “Like” icons scattered around the island that players can collect and exchange for virtual merchandise. The more hearts users collect, the higher they climb on the game’s leaderboard.

The Doctor Strange sequel is a bloated comic book event in movie form Continue reading…

Dish Network has recruited Samsung to help make its cloud-based 5G a reality. | Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Dish Network owes us a 5G network — that was the linchpin of the deal that allowed T-Mobile to buy Sprint, bringing our wireless carrier options down to three. With Dish’s first deadline fast approaching, the company has announced a new partner: Samsung. The company joins Dish as a vendor while it attempts to build a 5G network from scratch.Dish isn’t building just any old 5G network, either. It’s basing the network on a newer, cloud-based technology called O-RAN (Open Radio Access Network) that relies on off-the-shelf (rather than proprietary) hardware. Samsung is supplying vRAN (Virtualized Radio Acc... you get it) software and radio units to help make the whole thing work.Dish promised the FCC it would cover 20 percent of the... Continue reading…

The new Wyze Room Sensor costs $24.99 and detects temperature, humidity, and motion. | Image: Wyze The long-awaited Wyze Room Sensor launches today. Originally promised in 2021, this is a small, wireless device that pairs with the smart home company’s Smart Wi-Fi Thermostat, which launched in December 2020. Designed to optimize comfort in your home and help manage hot and cold spots, the Wyze Room Sensor detects temperature, humidity, and motion. The sensor only works when paired with the thermostat using the Wyze app, so it can’t be used as a standalone temperature monitor.Each sensor costs $24.99 plus shipping, or $69.99 plus shipping for a three-pack. They can be bought in a bundle with the Wyze Smart Wi-Fi Thermostat ($70.99) for $145.96 (plus shipping).Room sensors are a popular add-on to smart thermostats to give you greater... Continue reading…