The Verge

Here it is. | Image: Drop Sure, why not. Stack Overflow has teamed up with tech retailer Drop to release this cute little keyboard called The Key. It’s programmed to do exactly two things: copy and paste.The product started as an April Fools’ Day joke earlier this year — Stack Overflow users were shown alerts claiming that they had a limited number of copy / pastes and that they could only lift that cap by purchasing The Key. Users, as Stack Overflow’s blog post notes, were disappointed to find out that The Key was not a real thing they could buy.So, you can buy it now. It’s up for preorder on Drop’s website for $29. Per the company, the next batch is shipping on December 13th. Image: Drop What more could you need? As you can see,... Continue reading…

Illustration: Alex Castro / The Verge Google says search is still far from solved Continue reading…

Google’s Tree Canopy Lab | Image: Google Google Maps has new features that should make it easier for users to see wildfires, tree canopy, and locations without formal addresses. It’s all aimed at helping communities be “safer, more sustainable, and discoverable,” according to the company.A new wildfire layer on Maps will begin rolling out globally this week, Google announced today. It’ll show most major fires, those prompting evacuations, across the world. Red splotches and pins on the layer will indicate where blazes are and how far they’ve spread. By tapping on any single wildfire, users can see more information, like how many acres have burned, what percentage of the fire has been contained, and links to local emergency resources.The map is updated about every hour. It... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge All the new features coming to the search giant’s core product Continue reading…

Image: Google Shopping online isn’t always a convenience. If you enjoy window shopping or browsing curated collections at a brick-and-mortar store for inspiration, finding something online you don’t yet know you want or are unaware of is tricky if you start with a text search. Google is announcing new shopping search tools to try to alleviate this, with features that utilize Google Lens for finding products to buy from pictures online, broader search terms to help you browse clothing, and the ability to check in-store inventory from home. It claims the new tools will help shoppers “find what they’re looking for in a more visual way.” This comes after Google allowed all businesses to create listings on Google Shopping for free last year. Now, it wants... Continue reading…

Google is updating its visual search tool Google Lens with new AI-powered language features. The update will let users further narrow searches using text. So, for example, if you snap a photo of a paisley shirt in order to find similar items online using Google Lens, you can add the command “socks with this pattern” to specify the garments you’re looking for.Additionally, Google is launching a new “Lens mode” option in its iOS Google app, allowing users to search using any image that appears while searching the web. This will be available “soon,” but it’ll be limited to the US. Google is also launching Google Lens on desktop within the Chrome browser, letting users select any image or video when browsing the web to find visual search... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge “Can you get medicine for someone at the pharmacy?”It’s a simple enough question for humans to understand, says Pandu Nayak, vice president of search at Google, but such a query represents the cutting-edge of machine comprehension. You and I can see that the questioner is asking if they can fill out a subscription for another person, Nayak tells The Verge. But until recently, if you typed this question into Google, it would direct you to websites explaining how to fill out your prescription. “It missed the subtlety that the prescription was for someone else,” he says.MUM is Google’s biggest, brightest AI language modelThe key to delivering the right answer, says Nayak, is AI, which Google is using today to improve its search results.... Continue reading…

Whether it wants to be or not, YouTube is a guardian of internet history, with countless classic videos sitting in its archives. That makes it jarring when the company acts like what it is: a multinational corporation with no real understanding of this value. Case in point, this week, YouTube removed the original upload of the “Ah fuck, I can’t believe you’ve done this” meme, initially rejecting an appeal from its creator (and the guy who can’t believe this was done) and claiming that the clip violates the company’s “violent or graphic content policy.”In the words of Paul Weedon himself, star of and uploader of the original video: Ah, fuck. “It’s completely out of the blue,” Weedon told The Verge regarding the takedown. “I made the case... Continue reading…

Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge Almost everything Hasbro won’t give you in one package Continue reading…

The Mandalorian and Boba Fett in The Mandalorian. | Image: Lucasfilm Disney’s The Book of Boba Fett, a new show focused on the iconic Star Wars bounty hunter, will premiere on Disney Plus on December 29th, Disney announced Wednesday.Disney revealed that the show was in the works after a post-credits scene during the season 2 finale of The Mandalorian. Shortly after that big reveal, we learned that the show would premiere in December 2021, but now we have an official date.Here’s the official synopsis, from Disney:

Image: Facebook A little over a month after Facebook announced a test blending Instagram Reels’ short-form video content with its main Facebook app, the company is ready to roll it out fully in the US. Now, the creators who use it can create reels on Facebook, and Facebook is testing suggestions that will push the videos to its users. Image: Facebook Facebook Reels recommendation A big part of the Reels effort is appealing to the people who make entertaining content, and with its news feed, Facebook can offer potential levels of exposure that are bigger than anyone else, including competition like TikTok and Snapchat. To drive the point home, Facebook announced a Reels Play bonus program, which will invite certain creators to... Continue reading…

Image: Disney Disney’s next animated feature, Encanto, has a lot of what you’d expect from the studio. It’s bright and colorful, telling the story of a magical family living in the mountains of Colombia, most of whom have been blessed with superpowers. It’s even a musical with songs written by Lin-Manuel Miranda. But despite the familiar fantasy trappings, it explores new territory for Disney: the narrative tradition of magical realism. “The magic is born out of a human need or drive,” Encanto co-writer and co-director Charise Castro Smith tells The Verge. “It’s all generated by relationships and what these characters are going through.”Encanto tells the story of the Madrigal family, who lives in a magical home and go through a very unique experience... Continue reading…

Image: Sony They’re not audiophile earbuds by any means, but I’ve been a fan of Sony’s “extra bass” WF-XB700 earbuds since they were released. A big part of that is their unconventional shape, which twists into my ear canal deeper than most other earbuds for a sturdy fit that also manages to remain comfortable. But today, Sony is introducing the replacements for those earbuds, and while there are notable improvements like app support (with EQ), longer battery life, and easier controls, the overall design of the new $100 WF-C500 earbuds is definitely playing it safer. They also cost less out of the gate than the XF-XB700s did.Sony says it decided to go for a more compact style this time, but it has maintained the IPX4 water and sweat resistance of... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge In a new attempt to stem the flow of anti-vaccine misinformation, YouTube said Wednesday that it won’t allow videos that claim vaccines approved by health authorities are dangerous or don’t work. The platform is also banning prominent anti-vaccine accounts, including Joseph Mercola’s channel and the Robert F. Kennedy Jr.-linked Children’s Defense Fund.YouTube pulled ads from anti-vaccination content in 2019, and said in October 2020 that it would remove videos that pushed misinformation around COVID-19 vaccines. The new policy expands to block misinformation around other vaccines, including the flu shot, the HPV vaccine, and the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine. Videos that inaccurately claim that the MMR vaccine causes autism... Continue reading…

Jeff Bezos, Blue Origin’s founder, unveiling his space company’s Blue Moon lunar lander in 2019 in Washington, DC. | Photo by SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty Images Blue Origin is backed by the world’s richest man — why didn’t it just offer NASA a cheaper lunar lander? Continue reading…

Every year ahead of the League of Legends World Championship, developer Riot tries to get everyone excited with a new song. This year’s anthem is called “Burn It All Down” from American band Pvris, and it definitely fits into the tradition of music to get players amped up. But it also comes with a bonus: a music video that turns some of the game’s best players into anime heroes. (Journalist Ashley Kang has a great thread detailing who is who.) It’s the kind of short that makes you want a full League esports anime, and it even transitions to a 3D art style at the end, in a nod to the upcoming Netflix series Arcane.This year’s iteration of Worlds will take place in Iceland starting October 5th; it was originally slated for China but was... Continue reading…

Photo by Dan Seifert / The Verge Yesterday, Amazon announced its “home robot” — a wheeled device named Astro that has a display, an array of sensors, and a camera that periscopes out the top of its body like a mast. In advertisements for Astro, Amazon presents the device as an engineering breakthrough and the realization of a long-held sci-fi dream: to build a robot that can help around the house.This is rubbish, of course. What Astro is — for better or worse — is a camera on wheels.Astro definitely can’t get a beer for youThe physical limitations of Astro are obvious. It has no arms or manipulators; no way to interact with the world other than bumping into objects at shin height. It can’t navigate steps, and, according to employees who worked on the robot and spoke... Continue reading…

A masterclass in going back to what works Continue reading…

Jeep revealed the 2022 Grand Cherokee 4xe, the first plug-in hybrid version of the automaker’s best-selling SUV. It is the second Jeep vehicle to get an electrified version, following the hybrid 2021 Wrangler 4xe released last year. Jeep also announced an off-roading version of the Grand Cherokee, the Trailhawk, which also comes with a hybrid motor.Tellingly, Jeep is not announcing a pure electric version of the Grand Cherokee, nor selling any battery-electric vehicles. The automaker recently announced that it would release “zero-emission” versions of all of its vehicles by 2025, along with plug-hybrid variants. The Grand Cherokee 4xe (“four by E” in Jeep parlance) is estimated to get 25 miles of all-electric range and... Continue reading…

Photo by Cameron Faulkner / The Verge Despite not being the newest model, the 2020 Razer Blade 15 Advanced still offers plenty of power, which makes its current, $600 discount at Best Buy something to consider. Although we saw an even deeper discount on the 15-inch laptop earlier this month that brought it down to $1,600, today’s $1,800 price remains a solid deal for a laptop that has an RTX 2070 Super graphics chip and a fast 300Hz refresh rate display. It even comes packaged with a free month of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, allowing you to give your new hardware several benchmark tests.There are plenty of options when it comes to gaming laptops, but it's tough to beat the Razer Blade 15 Advanced in terms of performance and portability. Read our 2020 Razer Blade 15 Advanced... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Lawmakers are preparing to hold the first in a series of data privacy hearings on Wednesday in a fresh effort to bolster consumer data protections on platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and Google.On Wednesday, the Senate Commerce Committee plans to discuss the creation of a new privacy bureau at the FTC and “the need for a comprehensive federal privacy law.” It’s an uncomfortable dodge since Congress has thus far been unable to pass any such privacy law. But with states enacting their own privacy framework, there’s more pressure than ever for some part of the federal government to take action.As legislative efforts have stalled, the FTC could be the Biden administration’s best bet at regulating the tech industry’s grasp over consumer... Continue reading…

Valve’s first VR headset, the Index. | Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge Valve could have a second VR headset in development with a standalone design similar to what’s currently offered by Facebook’s lineup of Oculus Quest headsets. Evidence for the new headset was brought to light by YouTuber Brad Lynch. He found multiple references in Valve’s SteamVR code to a device codenamed “Deckard” which he then cross-referenced against the company’s recent patent applications.Ars Technica subsequently confirmed with its own sources that much of Lynch’s findings are accurate, and that Valve does have a second headset prototype in development. In contrast with the company’s first VR headset, the Valve Index, released in 2019, the new headset has a built in processor that could allow it to work without being tethered... Continue reading…

Amazon laid out its plans to make ambient computing an even bigger part of its customers’ lives at its hardware and services event on Tuesday. But while that vision includes surveillance drones and being followed around your home by a rolling Alexa-on-wheels called Astro, it was missing products for the other place people spend a lot of their time — their cars.That left an automotive-sized hole in Amazon’s presentation, and there are some good reasons to find it odd. Rumors in the lead-up to Amazon’s event pointed to the launch of a second generation Echo Auto, alongside several other predictions that ended up being true, like the wall-mounted Echo Show 15. Leaks of the Ring Car Cam in June also seemed to suggest that the Amazon-owned... Continue reading…

The new Withings ScanWatch Horizon showing SpO2 oxygen saturation. | Image: Withings The ScanWatch Horizon is Withings’ latest hybrid smartwatch to combine a digital display with a traditional mechanical format. You buy a Withings because you hate the look of typical health-focused wearables and abhor the bombardment of notifications that plague other smartwatches.Withings says it took design inspiration for the 43mm ScanWatch Horizon from “luxury dive watches” like the Submariner or Seamaster — influences that can be seen in the reflection-free sapphire-glass casing with titanium finish, a stainless-steel rotating bezel, and luminescent watch hands and indicators for visibility in low light. Its water resistance is only rated at 10 ATM, however, making it ill-suited for deep dives. But it should be fine for swimming,... Continue reading…

Vjeran Pavic / The Verge Apple has reportedly fixed the issue that broke the “unlock with Apple Watch” feature on iPhone 13 models. The feature, which lets Apple Watch users unlock their iPhones without a password when wearing a mask, now works again as of the second iOS 15.1 beta, as reported by 9to5Mac.Apple noted on its support page a few days ago that it was working on this problem. I’ve run into the issue myself on my personal iPhone 13 Pro and can confirm that it’s been pretty annoying after having gotten used to the feature since it was introduced earlier this year. Newer iPhones don’t have fingerprint readers, so the only way to unlock them when your mask interferes with Face ID is by using a password.There’s no word on when iOS 15.1 will be released... Continue reading…

When you see a flight of stairs. | Photo by Dan Seifert / The Verge Some of the people building Amazon’s Astro home robot are not impressed with it, according to a report by Vice. One person who worked on the robot, which was announced today, reportedly called it a “disaster that’s not ready for release,” while another said it was “terrible,” and the idea that it’d be a useful accessibility device (part of Amazon’s pitch is that Astro can help with elder care) was “absurdist nonsense.” The sources also mentioned that the bot doesn’t handle stairs well, with one even saying that it would “throw itself down” them “if presented the opportunity.”To make matters worse, Vice also reports that the robot is fragile and that several devices had broken. That’s not great news for a $1,000 (or $1,449) robot that... Continue reading…

Jane Tyska/Digital First Media/The Mercury News via Getty Images A Steve Jobs biography makes an appearance in court — but it doesn’t explain Theranos’ problems Continue reading…

You can soon set your Nest doorbell to cackle at your visitors. | Photo by Dan Seifert / The Verge Google Nest is bringing back seasonal ringtones for its video doorbells, which now include the Nest Doorbell (wired) — previously known as Nest Hello — and the new Nest Doorbell (battery). First up are Halloween-inspired tones, which will stick around through October, then the winter holiday-themed options arrive.For the past three years Nest has offered them, the ringtones have disappeared following the holidays, leaving you with the standard ding dong. But this year, the new Nest Doorbell will also get six “evergreen” ringtones that are usable year-round. They will arrive with the Halloween options, but Google tells me they aren’t coming to the older Nest Doorbell (wired).The spooky-themed ringtones should arrive on October 1st and... Continue reading…

Astro did not put that beer there! | Image: Amazon Amazon introduced a new robot today with the face of an Echo Show, the sensor-laden body of Panera Bread delivery bot, and a pair of cupholders for a trunk. The instant it was announced, people clamored for a reason for its existence beyond “mobile camera with a cute face” and “potentially invasive surveillance drone.” Most seemed to settle on “beer fetcher.”But friend, a pair of cupholders does not a robowaiter make.While the $1,000 Astro could very well have a wide variety of capabilities beyond home surveillance, it’s not gonna be fetching you anything. For one, it reportedly sucks. “Astro is terrible and will almost certainly throw itself down a flight of stairs if presented the opportunity,” a source who claimed to work on the... Continue reading…

Tesla and SpaceX boss Elon Musk criticized President Joe Biden as “not the friendliest administration” after the White House snubbed his company last month. Musk’s comments came during a Code Conference interview and followed a tweet in which the Tesla CEO mocked Biden using similar insults as former President Donald Trump.The Biden administration invited auto executives to the White House last month to discuss the shared goal of increasing the production of electric vehicles. Top officials from Ford, General Motors, and Stellantis were invited. But Tesla, which is the largest EV maker in the world, was not.“Controlled by the unions”One potential reason that Tesla wasn’t invited is that its factory workforce is not unionized, while... Continue reading…

Asa Mathat Tesla has been making participants in the “Full Self-Driving” beta test sign non-disclosure agreements, but CEO Elon Musk said Tuesday “we probably don’t need” them.The reason? “There’s a lot of videos” being shared of the beta software in action, Musk said on Tuesday during the 2021 Code Conference. “People don’t seem to listen to me” and are “just ignoring it anyway.”“I don’t know why there’s an NDA,” he said.Tesla has had a small group of owners testing out the beta version of its “Full Self-Driving” software — which, despite the name, does not make the company’s cars fully autonomous — on public roads for about a year now. But this week, Vice reported that the company makes participants in the program sign NDAs. These agreements... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Facebook’s interest in understanding and eventually acquiring younger users extends well beyond Messenger Kids or the currently paused plans for a child-friendly Instagram. A new report in The Wall Street Journal’s series on Facebook’s internal research shows the company’s focus on kids goes much deeper, including studying children younger than four years old in the hopes of better designing future products.The company’s child research is primarily motivated by the success of apps like TikTok and Snapchat in attracting younger users. “With the ubiquity of tablets and phones, kids are getting on the internet as young as six years old. We can’t ignore this and we have a responsibility to figure it out,” a confidential Facebook document... Continue reading…

Elon Musk isn’t happy that fellow mega-billionaire Jeff Bezos keeps suing to stop SpaceX’s projects, and he shared a message for the Amazon founder during the 2021 Code Conference on Tuesday: “you cannot sue your way to the Moon, no matter how good your lawyers are.”Musk was responding to a question from journalist Kara Swisher about how Bezos’ space company, Blue Origin, recently sued to block a contract NASA gave SpaceX to develop a lunar lander. Amazon has also protested SpaceX’s Starlink internet satellites with the Federal Communications Commission.Swisher asked Musk Tuesday if he has spoken to Bezos about the legal fights. “Not verbally, just... subtweets,” Musk said. (In August, Musk tweeted: “Turns out Besos [sic] retired in... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Update September 28th, 6:52PM ET: Sony has sold out of the PS5 and PS5 Digital Edition for the day. We’ll make sure to let you know when the next opportunity comes up.Nearly a year after making its debut, the PlayStation 5 remains notoriously difficult to get your hands on. Sony has been one of the most reliable retailers when it comes to console restocks, however, and the company often opens its online queue for customers who don’t mind waiting for a chance to secure Sony’s next-gen console.If you want to have another go at it, Sony has reopened the queue for ordering the disc-based PS5 and the PS5 Digital Edition via its direct store. You don’t have to refresh the landing page once you’ve arrived — just wait it out — but we do... Continue reading…

Oxenfree. Netflix is continuing its push into video games with the acquisition of Night School Studio, the team best-known for 2016’s Oxenfree and 2019’s Afterparty. (Oxenfree, it should be noted, had strong Stranger Things vibes — and Night School also previously worked on a canceled Stranger Things title.)“Night School wants to stretch our narrative and design aspirations across distinctive, original games with heart,” Night School’s Sean Krankel said in a statement. “Netflix gives film, TV, and now game makers an unprecedented canvas to create and deliver excellent entertainment to millions of people. Our explorations in narrative gameplay and Netflix’s track record of supporting diverse storytellers was such a natural pairing. It felt like... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Thus Sprach Technoking Continue reading…

Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge Apple tells Ars Technica that it thinks the “jelly scroll” effect some users have noticed on the new iPad Mini is normal LCD behavior that the company won’t have to fix. The effect, also known as skewing, can make it seem like one half of the display is slightly behind the other while you're scrolling, and it’s most apparent while using the iPad Mini in portrait mode. Verge executive editor Dieter Bohn noted the issue in a tweet and in his review of the device published this morning. Despite our requests before and after publishing the review, the company did not respond or comment.Ars explains that the issue happens because the iPad starts drawing the lines on one side of the screen, and it takes time to go from one side to the other.... Continue reading…

Mohamed Hamaki will be featured in Fortnite. | Image: Epic Games Epic Games has announced the next set of musical performances coming to Fortnite, called the Soundwave Series. The new series will feature artists from around the world, and players will be able to experience music from each artist in an interactive experience in-game.Epic is well known for bringing musical performances to Fortnite, including spectacular shows for huge artists like Travis Scott and Ariana Grande and concerts hosted on the non-violent party royale island. But Epic is increasingly working with its community to create signature experiences for the game in Fortnite’s Creative mode, such as with this summer’s Easy Life virtual concert and the Balenciaga-themed “Strange Times” hub. The first show in the Soundwave Series,... Continue reading…

Shedworks Zoom through sandy dunes vibing to the sounds of Japanese Breakfast Continue reading…

Photo by SAMEER AL-DOUMY/AFP via Getty Images Even as more and more people in the United States start to have access to their medical records online, most are still far more likely to use their computers to log in to patient portals than a smartphone app, according to a new report from the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology.Almost 40 percent of US adults said that they accessed their health records through a patient portal in 2020, according to the report, which analyzed data from the Health Information National Trends Survey (HINTS) run by the National Cancer Institute. That’s up from 25 percent in 2014.The survey only collected data from January through April 2020. That captures the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic when doctors started to... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Tesla is making owners who opt in to the controversial beta version of its “Full Self-Driving” software sign non-disclosure agreements and is also discouraging them from sharing video clips that show the driver assistance system making mistakes.According to a copy of the NDA obtained by Vice, Tesla tells those who sign the document that “there are a lot of people that want Tesla to fail; Don’t let them mischaracterize your feedback and media posts.” The company also says owners in the beta should “share on social media responsibly and selectively” and “consider sharing fewer videos, and only the ones that you think are interesting or worthy of being shared.”Vice’s report comes as Tesla is now working on expanding access to the “Full... Continue reading…

Mobius Digital / Annapurna Interactive Entering a state of desperation is essentially a requirement to solve many of Outer Wilds’ puzzles. The game’s new $15 expansion, Echoes of the Eye, features one such puzzle that had me feeling like I’d exhausted every option. I had the right tool in hand, I was in the right room. I had followed the vague tips in the slide reels I had seen so far, left behind by an intelligent species. So I did what I usually do when I lose hope in the game: reset the loop. Maybe I needed to start again with a fresh perspective.Then I woke up in a different world.I hadn’t solved the puzzle completely, but I inadvertently progressed through the story by taking a chance on a hunch. Taking chances is core to progressing in Outer Wilds, and it’s also the... Continue reading…

Amazon’s Astro home robot | Photo by Dan Seifert / The Verge Amazon’s long-awaited home robot is here Continue reading…

The Ring Pro 2 video doorbell (pictured) and the Ring Video Doorbell (2020) will now be able to tell you when a package is on your doorstep. | Photo by Dan Seifert / The Verge Ring is bringing package alerts to its Ring video doorbells, and it’s about time, too. This is a much-requested feature that’s already found on most of its competitors’ camera doorbell offerings. When the main selling point for a product is that it will deter porch pirates, it’s kind of important to be able to keep a virtual eye on those packages.The pings that will tell you when a package is on your porch will start rolling out to the Ring Pro 2 and Ring Video Doorbell (2020) in the US and internationally today and should arrive on other buzzers next year. But this still doesn’t address a big issue with most of Ring’s doorbells; the cameras’ wide viewing angles often don’t pick up the spot where the package is left. Only the Pro 2 has... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Amazon announced a fleet of new products at its hardware event, including the Astro home robot, several Ring home security products, and other products like a bigger Echo Show 15 and the Amazon Glow for kids. Unlike previous years, the list of products that you’ll soon be able to preorder is rather short, leaving the most interesting products available on an invite-only basis. Still, we’re going to point you to where you can find out more about getting one of them for yourself. Here are all of the biggest announcements from Amazon’s show, if you want to catch up. Image: Amazon How to buy Amazon’s Smart ThermostatOne of Amazon’s most affordable devices announced today is its Smart Thermostat, which costs $59.99. It... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Microsoft is starting to test its Xbox Cloud Gaming (xCloud) integration with Xbox consoles today. Some Xbox Insiders in the Alpha Skip-Ahead and Alpha rings will be able to access the xCloud integration today, a feature that lets you click play on an Xbox Game Pass game and stream it immediately.This new xCloud integration will allow Xbox owners to try games before they fully download them and potentially demo or try before you buy in the future. More than 100 Xbox Game Pass titles will be available as part of this initial xCloud integration, and Xbox players can even jump into multiplayer games as soon as friends send an invite. Image: Microsoft xCloud integration in the Xbox dashboard. I... Continue reading…

Astro features cameras, sensors, and motors to assist as it rolls around your home. | Photo by Dan Seifert / The Verge Amazon announced a home robot called Astro during its fall hardware event today, September 28th, which is designed to serve as a helpful mobile assistant that can navigate around the main floor of your home. Amazon promises Astro will be able to patrol your home while you’re away, carry small objects from room to room (as long as a human places the object in its storage compartment), follow a person around with its periscope camera while on a video call, play music, and play games with children, as well as carry out a bevy of other small tasks. It’s essentially an Echo Show 10 on wheels, complete with Alexa support, mixed with some of the expectations of a robot vacuum sans vacuuming — room assignment, navigation, and self-charging via a... Continue reading…

The Ring Always Home Cam retails for $249.99 and is set to launch later this year. | Image: Amazon First announced last year, Amazon will begin selling its Ring Always Home Cam starting today, September 28th, alongside the new Ring Alarm Pro, Blink Video Doorbell, and several other products. There are just two caveats: access to the Ring Always Home Cam is invite-only at the moment, and it won’t ship until later this year.The new Ring Always Home Cam is an autonomous, indoor security camera that essentially amounts to a flying drone strapped with a Ring camera on the bottom. With it, you can keep an eye on what’s going inside of your home even while you’re away. That’s because the device streams 1080p video to your smartphone via the Ring app, allowing you to check for intruders or make sure you didn’t leave the stovetop on at a... Continue reading…

Blink Video Doorbell | Image: Amazon Amazon has released a few new products from Blink since acquiring the Kickstarter smart home security darling in 2017, and today, during its fall event, it added three new items to the lineup that are made to mind your various entry points.Blink announced a doorbell ahead of CES in 2018, but that one doesn’t appear to have hit the market, so this is the first-generation Blink Video Doorbell. It will be available for $49.99 and claims it’s ready for use in any home thanks to a design suited for wired or wire-free installation. 1080p HD video, night vision, motion detection, two-way audio feeds, and integration with Alexa are all a part of the product.The doorbell runs on two AA lithium batteries, and Blink says that with a wired... Continue reading…