The Verge

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge A new blog post from Meta marks the six-month anniversary of its newsletter publishing platform, Bulletin. Amid its plugs for the writers who publish work on the service, the company lets us know just how many publishers it has on board to help compete with companies like Substack and Twitter: 115.Unlike Substack, the buzziest newsletter platform of the moment, you can’t just start writing with Bulletin — Meta has continued to add writers to the platform in batches instead of having a public sign-up process. While the number implies that the company isn’t doing a huge push to get people on the platform as fast as possible, that does appear to be on purpose, at least to some extent (there’s always the possibility it hasn’t been as... Continue reading…

The second-gen Echo Show 8 makes for a popular gift that will arrive in time for Christmas. | Dan Seifert / The Verge Christmas is just around the corner, and if that news fills you with panic instead of excitement, we’ve got your back. For those who are behind on your holiday shopping, there are still a ton of great gifts you can buy that will arrive in time, some of which are even on sale. Below, we’ve rounded up the best and organized them based on category, covering everything from smart displays and TVs to gaming accessories and laptops.Of course, if you’re looking for more ideas, our recently-updated 2021 Holiday Gift Guide is always a great place to browse. And if you’re really down to the wire and need a gift day-of — shipping deadlines are approaching fast, after all — we’ve also rounded up the best digital gifts you can buy and deliver... Continue reading…

“Habenero” Jack Dorsey did some spicy tweets last night.The Twitter founder and Block CEO tweeted out some thoughts on crypto and “Web3” that managed to exasperate some of the idea’s biggest boosters. This wasn’t the kind of Web3 criticism we’ve seen time and again — Dorsey didn’t come at them with a “right-clicker mentality” or anything so trivial. Instead, Dorsey went for the metaphorical jugular: he said users don’t actually own Web3, which is a movement that prides itself on decentralization and community.In reality, Dorsey said, it’s big venture capital firms like Andreessen Horowitz, which has dedicated more than $3 billion to investments in the space (and has made investments in several dozen crypto companies, including OpenSea... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge New forensic analysis indicates that representatives of the United Arab Emirates government installed Pegasus spyware on the phone of Hanan Elatr, wife of murdered journalist Jamal Khashoggi, just months before her husband was killed. The analysis was conducted by Toronto-based privacy and security research laboratory Citizen Lab on behalf of The Washington Post, which reported the findings on Tuesday.According to the Post’s report, a forensic investigation of two Android phones owned by Elatr revealed that an unknown person used one of the phones to visit a website that uploaded Pegasus spyware onto the phone. This took place after security agents at the Dubai airport had confiscated the phone from Elatr. Further analysis from Citizen... Continue reading…

Adidas Forum Tech Boost Series X | Image: Microsoft Adidas and Microsoft have collaborated on three different pairs of shoes this year to commemorate the 20th anniversary of Xbox, and now the final shoe from that partnership has been officially revealed. Unlike the previous releases, these Forum Tech Boost Series X shoes are available for purchase globally, going on sale from Adidas and other retailers, and are currently in stock on Microsoft.com for $140.The overall design and coloring are in place to mimic Microsoft’s latest flagship console, with black netting and a green liner inside that’s similar to the Xbox Series X’s fan vent, and a sphere Xbox logo on the side is drawn from the Elite controller. Image: Microsoft Adidas Forum Tech Boost Series X Like... Continue reading…

Image by DuckDuckGo DuckDuckGo, the company best known for its privacy-focused search engine of the same name, is working on a desktop browser that should bring the same focus on avoiding being tracked to your entire web experience. In a post on its blog, DuckDuckGo CEO Gabriel Weinberg offers a glimpse at what the upcoming browser will look like and notes that we can expect it to perform the same way its browsing app does on mobile.Weinberg explains that the desktop browser will offer “robust privacy protection” by default, without you having to toggle on any hidden security settings. Like the mobile app, the desktop equivalent will come with the same “Fire” button that instantly erases all of your browsing history, stored data, and tabs in one click.I... Continue reading…

Warner Bros. A fantastic setup to a tepid sequel Continue reading…

Chipotle’s Digital Kitchen for Pickup & Delivery kind of looks like a regular Chipotle | Image: Chipotle Chipotle announced it’s opening a new “Digital Kitchen” restaurant this month in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio (about 40 miles south of Cleveland) — which will exclusively accept online orders.Hungry customers should avoid knocking on that pickup window expecting to have their order takenThe prototype location will offer its pickup-only drive-thru “Chipotlane,” some outdoor seats and tables for eating (no dining room), and a walk-up window. Hungry customers should avoid knocking on that pickup window expecting to have their order taken. Instead, order online or on the Chipotle app and then check back at the window or roll up to the drive-thru. Image: Tabasco Imagine begging the Chipotle worker at the window to let you... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Verizon has sent an email to customers to let them know they’re getting opted in to its Custom Experience data collection scheme after reports came out about it being turned on by default for some users. If you (understandably) trashed the email without reading it, the TL;DR is that Verizon’s program collects data about your apps and web browsing activity to help “provide you more personalized experiences with Verizon.” But of course, Verizon says, you have a choice — you can turn it off anytime because your privacy is important to it (though not important enough to make the program opt-in instead of opt-out).Custom Experience is a sort of spin-off / successor / rebrand of Verizon Selects, which people were enrolled into when they used... Continue reading…

TikTok says it has not found any videos threatening school violence on December 17th | Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge TikTok said Friday that it’s working to remove “alarmist warnings” about a supposed day of school violence that was rumored to take place on Friday, December 17th. A supposed threat of a nationwide day of violence at schools across the country, that allegedly started as a TikTok challenge, prompted some districts to cancel classes Friday even as law enforcement mostly determined that the threats were not credible.TikTok said on Twitter that the warnings violated its misinformation policy, which prohibits the spread of hoaxes or warnings about hoaxes that treat them as real. After searching “exhaustively,” Tiktok said it had not found content on its platform promoting violence at US schools on Friday, despite the widespread but... Continue reading…

Tencent is acquiring Turtle Rock Studios. | Image: Turtle Rock Studios Tencent is adding to its already large roster of video game studios by acquiring Slamfire, the parent company of Back 4 Blood developer Turtle Rock Studios. Turtle Rock will be “retaining its independent operations” in California and the current leadership team will still run the studio, according to a press release.Tencent is behind some of the biggest games on the planet. It owns the studio behind the hugely popular MOBA League of Legends; the developer of the mobile hits Call of Duty: Mobile, Honor of Kings, and Pokémon Unite; and has a 40 percent stake in Epic Games, the developer of Fortnite and Unreal Engine. And the company has made many significant investments just this year, including acquiring British game studio Sumo, buying... Continue reading…

The MQ-Series of Vizio TVs supports voice controls through the remote. | Image: Vizio The Christmas holiday is just one week away. I repeat: seven days from now is Christmas Eve. Let that sink in for a moment, but don’t panic just yet. There is still time to get gifts in time for the holidays before we reach cutoff times for shipments, though we’re getting a little tight on time. Just because you’re cutting it close doesn’t mean you have to overspend. Today, we have a bunch of great deals at a variety of price points — many of which can make exceptional gifts for a friend, family member, or yourself.Starting off, Vizio’s midrange 70-inch MQ7 4K LED TV (M70Q7-J03) with voice controls and HDR is just $749.99 at Best Buy. That’s a $350 discount on quite a large TV. You may ask, “How can I gift a 70-inch TV to just one... Continue reading…

If Clockwork Aquario had come out in the early ’90s, it would have cost me a lot of quarters. It’s the kind of arcade game that lures you in: big sprites, bright colors, inventive worlds, a bubbly soundtrack. You see it, and you want to play it. Unfortunately, I never got the chance to experience it in an arcade because it was never actually released. But a few decades later, it’s finally available in a new format — you can now play it on both the PS4 and Nintendo Switch.Clockwork Aquario was initially a victim of the game industry’s shift to 3D games. Development started in 1992 at Westone Bit Entertainment, a now-defunct studio best-known for the Wonder Boy series. The game was completed after two years, but by that time, arcades had... Continue reading…

Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images Tax preparation service H&R Block filed a lawsuit against Block, Inc. (formerly Square, Inc.) for trademark infringement on Thursday, CNBC reported.“Today’s filing is an important effort to prevent consumer confusion and ensure a competitor cannot leverage the reputation and trust we built over more than six decades,” said H&R Block president and CEO Jeff Jones in a press release.H&R Block claims that Square’s new name competes directly with Block in several areas of financial services, including a recently purchased tax service named Cash App Taxes — previously Credit Karma Tax — a $0 tax filing service similar to H&R Block.

Image: NASA Every Friday, The Verge publishes our flagship podcast, The Vergecast, where co-hosts Nilay Patel and Dieter Bohn discuss the week in tech news with the reporters and editors covering the biggest stories. On the final Vergecast of 2021, Nilay and Dieter invite Verge managing editor Alex Cranz and senior space reporter Loren Grush to the show to cover the last bits of news before the holiday break.Next week on Christmas Eve, we will see the James Webb Space Telescope — successor to NASA’s famed Hubble telescope — finally launch into space. Loren explains what the JWST will be used for, how the telescope will launch, and the complications with its launch along the way.In the second half of the show, Nilay, Dieter, and Alex go through... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge The California Department of Fair Employment and Housing (DFEH) is looking into how Google treats its Black female employees, according to a report by Reuters. The report says that the regulator has been asking employees questions about harassment and discrimination, after receiving formal complaints.The report doesn’t make any mention of the DFEH bringing charges against Google as it did with Activision Blizzard and says that the interviews being conducted don’t necessarily mean that Google could face charges.Black women made up 1.8 percent of Google’s workforce in 2021According to a diversity report Google released earlier this year, Black women make up around 1.8 percent of its workforce and departed the company at a higher than... Continue reading…

Horseshoe crabs are bled at the Charles River Laboratory in South Carolina. | Timothy Fadek Conservationists fear that horseshoe crabs, a 450-million-year-old living fossil, will be pushed to the brink of extinction because of the value of their blood to the pharmaceutical industry. Horseshoe crab blood provides a natural source of limulus amebocyte lysate (LAL) which is used to test vaccines, drugs, and medical devices to ensure that they aren’t contaminated with dangerous bacterial toxins called endotoxins. With hundreds of thousands of horseshoe crabs captured and bled of their milky-blue blood each year, conservation groups are now stepping up their advocacy efforts and taking legal action to help save horseshoe crabs and the other species that rely on them.Fortunately, there’s already an alternative to horseshoe crab... Continue reading…

The Gävle Goat before and after its most recent arson attack this year. | Photo by MATS ASTRAND,PERNILLA WAHLMAN/TT News Agency/AFP via Getty Images If you’ve never heard of the Gävle Goat before, there are just two critical pieces of information you need to know.First: the Gävle Goat is a giant straw statue of a goat erected every Christmas in the Swedish town of Gävle. It’s essentially a massive Yule Goat, a traditional symbol of the Yuletide season in areas of Scandinavia and Northern Europe, and was first installed in the town in 1966. The most recent incarnation stands 42 feet high and weighs 3.6 tonnes.Second: every year, someone tries to set the goat on fire. And most years, they succeed — including this one.As the BBC reported this morning: “A giant straw goat that has become an annual highlight in the Swedish city of Gavle has been burned by an arsonist. A man in his 40s... Continue reading…

Amazon investors want an audit of the company’s workplace safety | Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Citing the recent scrutiny on its employees’ working conditions, a group of Amazon shareholders has filed a resolution asking the board of directors to commission an independent audit on workplace health and safety at the company. The resolution calls for the audit to be conducted with input from Amazon employees and experts in workplace safety and surveillance.“As Amazon strives to be ‘the Earth’s Safest Place to Work,’ a review is needed of the practices that have made the company a leader in workplace injuries and a target for criticism and regulation,” the shareholders’ resolution reads. “With surveillance and productivity quotas linked to high injury rates, we urge Amazon to commission an independent audit of these practices.”If... Continue reading…

Toss a coin to the physicist who agreed to this interview Continue reading…

FedEx is the first customer to receive electric delivery vans from General Motors’ new EV-focused company BrightDrop. The logistics giant says it will integrate the EVs into its fleet starting in 2022.BrightDrop, which is GM’s new dedicated electric delivery van spinoff, said it delivered five of its larger-sized EV600 delivery vans to FedEx, the first in a planned 500-vehicle order. The EV600, which went into production last fall, has 600 cubic feet of cargo space, can travel up to 250 miles on a full battery, and has a gross vehicle weight of less than 10,000 pounds.The vans were delivered to FedEx’s facility in Inglewood, California, where they will be housed and maintained. FedEx plans to begin deploying BrightDrop’s vehicles on... Continue reading…

Image: Nintendo Nintendo has expanded its Expansion Pack for the Switch, adding five new Sega Genesis titles to the most expensive tier of its online subscription service. Those titles are Altered Beast, ToeJam & Earl, Dynamite Headdy, Sword of Vermilion, and Thunder Force II.The Expansion Pack subscription tier costs $49.99 annually for an individual subscription or $79.99 for a family membership (compared to $19.99 / $34.99 for a regular Switch Online subscription). For the extra cash, subscribers get access to larger back catalog of games. Both tiers include classic NES and Super NES titles like theThe Legend of Zelda and Super Mario World while the Expansion Pack adds games from the Nintendo 64 (like Super Mario 64) and the Sega Genesis (known as... Continue reading…

Chris Noth played Mr. Big in Sex and the City and its sequel series And Just Like That. | Photo by Jason Howard/Bauer-Griffin/GC Images Peloton has removed a viral ad starring Chris Noth, the actor who plays Mr. Big in HBO Max’s Sex and the City and its sequel series And Just Like That, after Noth was accused of sexual assault. Peloton says it’s stopped promoting the videos until it “learns more” about the accusations.In a story published by The Hollywood Reporter on Thursday, two women alleged that Noth assaulted them in 2004 and 2015 respectively. One of the women said that “seeing that [Noth] was reprising his role in Sex and the City set off something in me.” She added: “For so many years, I buried it,” but decided it was time “to try to go public with who he is.” Noth has denied the allegations against him and claims the sexual encounters were consensual.“Every... Continue reading…

Microsoft is finally signaling the end of the legacy Control Panel in Windows 11. The software giant introduced a number of changes in its Settings section of Windows 11 earlier this year, and this month the company has started testing even more ways to replace Control Panel functionality.In new test versions of Windows 11, Microsoft has moved the advanced network settings into a new page in the Settings app, which includes sharing options for folders, printers, and network discovery options. Some entry points to the network and device settings in Windows 11 also now redirect to the Settings app, instead of forcing you into the Control Panel. The Control Panel in Windows 11. Elsewhere, links to the section of the... Continue reading…

Image: LG In 2021 LG added an OLED-based monitor for pros to its lineup, and now the company has revealed the follow-up UltraFine OLED Pro monitors it’s planned for 2022. While its first effort was only available as a $3,999 31.5-inch 4K monitor, next year’s version will include a 27-inch variant. Image: LG Naturally, the 32BP95E and 27BP95E still feature the precise lighting control you’d expect from an OLED panel; however, these screens aren’t meant for gaming or even TV and movie watching. The promise LG’s DisplayHDR 400 True Black technology ensures that if you’re editing photos or video, everything looks the way it truly should. They’ll also ship with detachable self-calibration sensors and monitor hoods and use the LG... Continue reading…

It was never about the people Continue reading…

Unconfirmed threats on TikTok led some schools to cancel classes | Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge School districts across the United States are cancelling classes on Friday, December 17th due to reports of threats that are supposedly being made on TikTok. Districts in California, Texas, Minnesota, and Missouri have said they plan to close down Friday in response, according to the districts and local media reports. Elsewhere, districts have said they plan to have heightened police presence or have emailed parents to say they’ve been investigating the allegations.But so far, there’s little evidence that the threats are credible — or even exist. The districts and local police departments largely say they’ve heard about a trend referencing the possibility of shootings or bombings on December 17th, but it’s not clear how many have seen a... Continue reading…

The U.S. Federal Trade Commission has opened an in-depth antitrust probe of Meta’s plan to buy the popular VR fitness app Supernatural, according to a new report by The Information.The probe means that antitrust regulators are starting to scrutinize the-company-formally-known-as-Facebook’s interest in scooping up VR startups, not just its traditional social media acquisitions. According to The Information’s Josh Sisco, Meta’s previous five virtual reality acquisitions, including its deal for the studio behind hit game Beat Saber, weren't probed by the government because the purchase prices were too small. “But those regulators are slowing down the $400 million-plus Supernatural deal, according to two people with knowledge of the... Continue reading…

GSC Game World has scrapped its plans for NFTs in S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2. | Image: GSC Game World S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chernobyl will no longer include NFTs, developer GSC Game World announced Thursday. The news arrives after a heavily criticized announcement Wednesday and after the studio posted and then deleted an explanation on Thursday that initially tried to explain it would, in fact, still have NFTs.“Based on the feedback we received, we’ve made a decision to cancel anything NFT-related in S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2,” the new statement says. “The interests of our fans and players are the top priority for the team. We’re making this game for you to enjoy — whatever the cost is. If you care, we care too.”

GSC Game World deleted a tweet elaborating why it plans to offer NFTs. | Image: GSC Game World Update December 16th, 6:44PM ET: 11 minutes after we posted this story, GSC Game World announced it was canceling “anything NFT-related in S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2.” Guess that explains why the earlier explanation was deleted. Our original story follows.S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chernobyl developer GSC Game World posted a now-deleted statement on Twitter elaborating on its widely criticized plans to add NFTs to the game. In short, the company said it will be using funds earned from the NFTs to help with development.“S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chernobyl is truly the biggest and the most complex game we have ever created,” GSC Game World said. “All the funds that we earn during the development process (including the potential income from NFT)... Continue reading…

Behold, the EX-8S | Image: Echelon While Peloton is the most familiar name in connected fitness, Echelon’s bikes are probably the ones you’ve seen before without noticing. Echelon’s bikes are among the first that pop up when you google “cheaper Peloton alternative,” and it’s also the company behind Walmart’s $497 connected bike. (You might also remember them from last year’s Amazon Prime Bike debacle.) Well, now one of Peloton’s biggest rivals is back with a new premium bike — the EX-8S, and it is extremely extra.For starters, the bike sports a 24-inch 1080p curved touchscreen. Echelon says that’s to create a more immersive experience and that the screen itself also flips open 180-degrees for off-bike workouts. It’s also got not one but two light-up flywheels that can be... Continue reading…

There used to be a joke that every game was turning into a Fortnite-style battle royale, and here to make that bit a reality is Babble Royale, a new Scrabble-style competitive online multiplayer game from designer Frank Lantz’s Everybody House Games (best known for Universal Paperclips and Hey Robot).Despite the fact that it feels like a joke meant to clown on Fortnite, PUGB, and other last-person-standing games in the genre, Babble Royale is very much a real game, currently available on Steam in early access for both PC and Mac.

Illustration by Richard Parry Great gifts that will cultivate curiosity, creativity, and so much more Continue reading…

Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge GameStop has announced a special in-store sales event for the hard-to-get Sony PlayStation 5 console, taking place on December 17th. The restock event requires a subscription to GameStop’s Pro membership — which normally runs $14.99 per year but is currently discounted to $9.99 once added to your cart. GameStop lists all its participating retail locations on its site, which spans over 700 stores across the US. While this event is being hosted at many locations, GameStop has indicated that quantities will be limited.According to Matt Swider’s The Shortcut, GameStop will have around 60 disc-based PS5 bundles at participating stores. The bundles will supposedly consist of a PS5 console, Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales Ultimate Edition,... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Facebook’s parent company Meta has alerted 50,000 users of Facebook and Instagram that their accounts were spied on by commercial “surveillance-for-hire” schemes around the globe.The users were targeted by seven entities and located in more than 100 countries, according to an update posted on Meta’s news page today.Targets included journalists, dissidents, critics of authoritarian regimes, families of opposition, and human rights activists, the post said. The surveillance was uncovered in a monthslong investigation in which Meta identified spying groups and removed them from the platform.“These companies are part of a sprawling industry that provides intrusive software tools and surveillance services indiscriminately to any customer —... Continue reading…

Dan Ammann, the CEO of Cruise, the autonomous vehicle company that is a wholly owned subsidiary of General Motors, is stepping down, the automaker announced late Thursday. Kyle Vogt, the co-founder of Cruise and its chief technology officer, will take over as interim CEO.Ammann is the latest CEO of an AV company to step aside as the industry struggles to meet its own over-inflated expectations about the future of driverless cars. Earlier this year, John Krafcik announced that he was stepping down as CEO of Waymo after helping lead the company since 2015.GM didn’t provide a reason for Ammann’s departureGM didn’t provide a reason for Ammann’s departure except to say he was leaving to “pursue other opportunities.” A spokesperson for... Continue reading…

France’s foremost privacy regulator has ordered Clearview AI to delete all its data relating to French citizens, as first reported by TechCrunch.In its announcement, the French agency CNIL argued that Clearview had violated the GDPR in collecting the data and violated various other data access rights in its processing and storage. As a result, CNIL is calling on Clearview to purge the data from its systems or face escalating fines as laid out by European privacy law.Clearview rose to prominence in 2020 after a New York Times investigation highlighted the company’s massive data collection efforts. In particular, the company offered the unique ability to identify subjects by name, drawing on data scraped from public-facing social... Continue reading…

Photo by Smith Collection/Gado/Getty Images The majority of Comcast Xfinity internet customers have suffered ridiculous and unnecessary data caps since 2016, and the company planned to extend those caps to a dozen more US states this year. But after taking well-deserved flak for attempting to bilk customers in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic, Comcast delayed them once, twice, and now a third time — now they won’t arrive until 2023 at the earliest, Light Reading reports.“We don’t have plans to implement our data usage plan in our Northeast markets in 2022 at this time,” a Comcast spokesperson told the publication.Does that mean the planned 1.2TB data cap for those states is gone for good, or is Comcast simply biding its time? Hard to say. Technically, “We don’t have plans... Continue reading…

Photo by Mitchell Clark / The Verge Amazon-backed EV startup Rivian is going to build a second factory in Georgia where it will assemble up to 400,000 electric vehicles per year. The company made the announcement on Thursday alongside state representatives after months of speculation over where it would look to expand its manufacturing footprint. Rivian will start construction of the $5 billion facility in the summer of 2022 and expects to start making vehicles there in 2024.Rivian is already building its first electric pickup trucks at a former Mitsubishi factory in Normal, Illinois. But the company is getting ready to start building its electric SUV and is committed to producing 100,000 custom delivery vans for Amazon, so it has been searching for a place to create a... Continue reading…

Sidewalk Labs will be folded into Google as its CEO steps down for health reasons. | Photo by STR/AFP via Getty Images Sidewalk Labs CEO Dan Doctoroff is stepping down for health reasons, and the six-year-old company and its products will be folded into Google, he wrote in a blog post Thursday. Doctoroff says he’s been diagnosed with what may be ALS and wants to spend more time with his family.“Starting next year, Sidewalk products Pebble, Mesa, Delve, and Affordable Electrification will join Google, becoming core to Google’s urban sustainability product efforts,” Doctoroff wrote in the post. “These products will continue to be led by Sidewalk Labs President of Urban Products Prem Ramaswami and Chief Technology Officer Craig Nevill-Manning, both Google alumni, and the teams will continue to execute on their vision and serve customers.”Google parent... Continue reading…

Portal now offers sign language interpreters | Meta Facebook parent company Meta is adding video relay services (VRS) to its Portal video calling devices, allowing users to bring English or Spanish sign language interpreters into video conversations. The new feature is part of a collaboration with ZP Better Together, a tech firm that makes communication solutions for Deaf and hard-of-hearing users.Meta spokesperson Lisa Auslen explained in an email to The Verge that users will need to apply for a ZP account to confirm they’re eligible for the service, which is federally funded under the Americans with Disabilities Act. Both the service and the Portal devices are free for those who qualify; they must be VRS users in the US who communicate using ASL.Once the user has their ZP account and... Continue reading…

The Nokia X20 is HMD Global’s first device to get Android 12. HMD Global offered its first Android 12 update this week, starting with the midrange Nokia X20. The company says users in this first wave will receive the update by December 17th.Good. That’s what HMD said it would do, and it’s doing just that. We love to see it.You’re forgiven if you forgot that the Nokia X20 exists — it’s a mostly unremarkable device with a 6.67-inch 60Hz display, Snapdragon 480 processor, and four rear-facing cameras. In fact, its most compelling features might just be its healthy support policy (three years of OS updates) and an unusually generous three-year warranty.Generally speaking, the Android 12 rollout has been a rocky oneThat’s a great policy in theory — as my colleague Jon Porter pointed out in his... Continue reading…

Courtesy of DJI DJI is one of the biggest drone companies in the world, and last year, the US government added it to the Department of Commerce’s Entity List, which marked it as a national security concern and banned US-based companies from exporting technology to it. Today, the Treasury Department placed further sanctions on DJI, including it as one of eight Chinese companies added to the Non-SDN Chinese Military-Industrial Complex Companies (NS-CMIC) List.US Treasury:

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Spotify continues to beef up its audio product arsenal. Today, it announced the acquisition of Whooshkaa, a nearly six-year-old Australian company focused on helping radio broadcasters monetize, edit, and distribute their shows as podcasts. Spotify says some radio broadcasters, like the Australian Radio Network, already rely on its podcast hosting platform Megaphone, and this Whooshkaa radio technology will be integrated into it. The selling price was not disclosed.Radio networks will be able to prepare shows for publishing by capturing live broadcasts and using the Whooshkaa tech to edit and remove ads to make room for podcast-only spots. From there, Megaphone can host the shows, and Spotify can help the shows monetize by encouraging... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Update 3:25PM ET, December 16th: Best Buy has sold out of consoles for now. This one lasted a bit longer than some recent restocks, though availability seemed dependent on your location and proximity to Best Buy stores.If you’re currently shopping for a PlayStation 5 console and have been recently striking out with restocks at Walmart, Costco, and other retailers, you have another chance right now at Best Buy. The electronics retailer just opened up a fresh batch of PlayStation 5 consoles for $499.99. Best Buy is only selling the disc-based version, however, not the Digital Edition.Be sure to log in and queue up on Best Buy’s site, with your billing and shipping info saved. Click the “Add to Cart” button on the right to jump into the... Continue reading…

Days after IGN’s report highlighting Bungie’s years-long struggle with harassment, abuse, and crunch conditions, Gayle d’Hondt, head of HR, is stepping down.According to a report from IGN, d’Hondt served at Bungie for 14 years before stepping down from her role as head of HR effective immediately. It is not yet known if she will remain with the company in another role. In an email obtained by IGN, d’Hondt shared her experiences at Bungie, which included “deeply challenging interpersonal conflicts” and reporting her own abuse.Last week, IGN reported that the culture at the studio was at times at odds with its image of being a progressive video game development company. The report captured incidents of a manager yelling frequently at... Continue reading…

Illustration by Richard Parry Clever gift ideas to satisfy the pickiest of dads Continue reading…

Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge Apple is reportedly working to design more chip components in-house, with the company said to be establishing a new office with the aim of replacing components that Apple currently sources from Broadcom and Skyworks, according to Bloomberg.The new office is said to be in its early stages but will eventually focus on “wireless radios, radio-frequency integrated circuits and a wireless system-on-a-chip,” in addition to “semiconductors for connecting to Bluetooth and Wi-Fi,” Bloomberg says.While the A-series and M-series SoCs that contain the CPU and GPU for Apple’s iPhones and Macs get most of the attention, there are tons of additional chips inside those devices, handling things like power management, USB connectivity, wireless... Continue reading…

Success! You just installed the last Google Toolbar. | Screenshot by Umar Shakir / The Verge I was lost and in search of myself after hearing the devastating news on Ars Technica: Google Toolbar had been put down by the search giant after nearly 21 years — longer than most projects the company lets live. (A recent newsletter effort didn’t make it past three months).There was no ceremony, no announcement, no moment of silence, nor any closure — just a “no longer available.” That’s what Google has now on its Install Google Toolbar help page; it tells you how to uninstall the Google Toolbar and install Chrome instead. How to “install” Google Toolbar — the result may surprise you. It feels unreal for Google to silently forsake a tool that was, in 2008, responsible for 12 percent of all Google searches — and... Continue reading…